Ang's Journal

Goals from last year:

1) I will attend at least 100 SQUID practices this year.

Not even close. I did 26 swim practices this year. I need to find another workout venue, because Squid weekday practices are inconvenient enough to be a real disincentive, & I never make Saturday practices because we're always on the go on the weekends. Possible alternatives: swimming at Denver Recreation facilities, finding another team with better practice times, or maybe picking up a different activity. I have toyed with the idea of just throwing myself into skiing & hiking, & maybe doing yoga.

2) I will compete in at least one swimming competition this year, either a pool meet or an open-water event.

Nope. I let my uncertainty about my new job derail my training & missed all the summer events.

3) I will overpay my mortgage by at least $4,000 this year.

Nope. We overpaid by $1,916.05. Good but not great. Still, we have done well in our first year of homeownership. We owe $320,172.25 on the mortgage, & our realtor estimates our house could sell for around $370,000. Our neighborhood has been proposed for historic district designation, which would likely drive up values. We're doing well with Breezehome.

4) I will earn, in some fashion, some income from any source OTHER than my AECOM paycheck.

Yessss.

5) I will log at least 30 Whole30-compatible meals a month into MyPaleoPal.

No. I have actually done an about-face on this. Instead, I have been attending Overeaters Anonymous & trying to work through some of my weird issues around food.
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Health: Weird year. I worked on mental health for a while, then stopped. I worked on weight loss, then realized I'm all fucked up in the head about weight & food. I feel good but I need more exercise for sure. Still not sleeping well. It's not been a great year healthwise. But I did achieve some of the specific goals I had last year: I grew some food in my own garden, I learned how to brew kombucha (I have a batch going right now), & I'm eating more seafood & vegetables than ever before.

HEALTH GRADE: Change in direction required.

Wealth: We did pretty well this year! We didn't make any huge outlays, & didn't realize any huge windfalls. We just plugged along, paying down debts, saving money in assets. Very boring, very pedestrian.

Change in assets, 2016: increased by $55,011.64
Change in debts, 2016: decreased by 10,817.27
Change in rough net worth, 2016: increased by $65,828.91

WEALTH GRADE: Steady Freddy.

Happiness: This year has been volatile. HPG & I nearly broke up in late summer. I'd say we are doing much better now. My job transition was stressful, but overall I think it was a good move. Larger trends - political, mostly - have made me wonder if our world is worth saving. We've made some good friends in our neighborhood, & met even more great people this year. I've spent tons of time in the mountains, exploring the beautiful areas around Denver. But the year's finish - the surprise discovery of my elder brother Richard - means that 2016 can never be anything but amazing.

HAPPINESS GRADE: Despite everything, would 2016 again.

Plans for 2017

I dunno. I did so badly with my resolutions in 2016 so maybe this year I'll just see how things go. Or I may write another post later with some modest goals.

Sleep: luxuriant. I took an extra-long, hot shower before bed & did my full pre-bedtime routine. I slept for at least eight hours & I feel deeply refreshed.

Breakfast: S&SBC, the last of the strawberries, half an avocado, black Scottish breakfast tea.
Stopped by Safeway while out running errands, picked up an apple & some scallions to use in chicken salad.

Snack: kombucha.

Lunch: whipped up a batch of Nom Nom’s Madras Chicken Salad, using meat picked off the rotisserie chicken. Bones put in the freezer for a later batch of bone broth. Had chicken salad & a green salad (red butter lettuce, cucumbers, celery, bell peppers, Tessamae balsamic dressing) for lunch.

Pre-WO: tuna cake.

Went to SQUID practice.

Post-WO: the rest of the chicken salad.

Dinner: Philippine chicken adobo with smashed sweet potatoes & cauli-rice sauteed in bone broth.

I ate a lot today, but I did a lot today.

Sleep: again not good. I'm stressed about my job & it's starting to eat at me at all hours.

Breakfast: S&SBC, grapefruit, Bloodless coffee.

Snack: tuna cake & coconut cream Larabar. I'm just gonna finish off the evil things & then not buy them again until I have a genuine need for them.

2:00 PM snack: All right, I'm eating emotionally, I'm wallowing in a deep Bad Mood, so today is the day to reintroduce dairy. A BIG OLE MUG of sugary, milky Scottish breakfast tea & A WHOLE FREAKIN' 2.5-OZ. BAR of Mast Brothers cow milk chocolate. You want to know something?? I would've thought that, after 42 days (SIX WEEKS) without a proper cuppa OR a nibble of chocolate, that the two of these things together would've transported me directly to Heaven. Not so. The tea is good. The chocolate was nice. But they weren't nearly as good as I thought they'd be. Even 60% cacao chocolate tastes weirdly sweet, & I didn't really like the sugar in the tea, either. Now, this may be because I'm in an unredeemable Bad Mood today, but it might be that my taste buds have adjusted to a no-sweetener palate.

I also ate the last two apple pie Larabars at some point in the afternoon. Now my house is Larabar-free. It should stay that way.

5:00 PM: I have a mild case of heartburn. I never have heartburn. I also had a brief sensation of light-headedness with a racing heart earlier this afternoon. But that might've been the sugar, or the 76 mg of caffeine from the chocolate plus the 40-50 mg of caffeine from the breakfast tea. I've not been consuming much caffeine, so that was probably a bit of a rev for the heart.

Went out to the GOT Premiere last night, so dinner was an Epic lamb bar.

Sleep: good. About 7.5 hours, so a little shorter than some other nights, but Skyrim needs love too.

Breakfast: "Bloodless" coffee (that's my Kvothe joke for the day), S&SBC, kim-chi, strawberries.

I went to Palm Sunday services, then went to Sprouts & Marczyk's for some groceries. I bought one yogurt & one milk chocolate bar for Wednesday (dairy reintroduction). That's the first reintro I'm really looking forward to! Legumes? Sure, I'll take 'em but I haven't been craving them. Corn tortilla chips & Crispix? I don't think I *CAN* eat them in a sane fashion. But dairy? I'd like a little dairy in my life.

Snack: cup of decaf coffee at church after services, Epic turkey bar.

Lunch: monkey salad & kombucha. I wasn't in the mood for a hot meal, nor for a green salad.

I baked a 9x13 dish of S&SBC, so I'm ready to go for breakfasts this week. I wonder if I could freeze half of it, then make the sweet potato quiche & freeze half of THAT, & then alternate between the two for extra variable breakfast variety. Hmmm, sounds like a lot of work.

Dinner: grilled salmon with avocado salsa, actually cooked on the grill, with asparagus. I ate it like I was imitating a tornado ripping through Kansas. Holy cow, so delicious. Apple pie Larabar for dessert.



Snack: coconut cream Larabar.

Sleep: GORGEOUS. I kept my promise to myself & made sleep a top priority last night. No TV, lights all low in the house, started my pre-bedtime routine at about 9 PM. I was in bed by 9:40 PM & asleep by 10 PM. I slept all the way through to 7 AM & I feel one thousand times better. YAY.

Breakfast: bulletproof-ish coffee (less ghee & coconut oil, stronger brew), S&SBC, fresh strawberries, kim-chi.

Lunch: corn tortilla chips, quick guacamole (half an avocado plus a spoonful of El Fenix salsa), salad (red butter lettuce, carrots, tomato, celery, Bragg's dressing). #surprisenosuprise: tortilla chips are DEFINITELY a FWOB for me - I will eat a bag of them until they are gone, & then shake the chip dust from the bottom of the bag into my mouth, & then look for another bag.

Snack: kombucha.

Snack: Crispix cereal, made of corn & rice. I meant to eat a handful or two but WHOOAAH! Another massive FWOB! I ate three-quarters of a box, mindlessly munching along. I was so full I didn't eat dinner.

I think that the most unhealthy thing about grains may be that they displace healthier foods from my diet. I ate Crixpix today instead of the tuna cake, steamed greens, & squash I had planned to have for dinner. Even if I'm not sensitive to non-gluten grains, that was a bad tradeoff.

Sleep: a little low on quantity (I didn't start getting ready for bed until almost 11 PM) but high on quality (did the pre-bedtime routine & conked right out once I made it to bed). Slept until 7 AM.

Breakfast: big slice of S&SBC, monkey salad, black Scottish breakfast tea.

Work was slow this morning, so I cleaned the refrigerator (as in, pulled out all the contents & scrubbed the walls, shelves, & drawers) & got Philippine Chicken Adobo with Sweet Potatoes started in the slow cooker. I used ghee in the skillet to cook the chicken - should be more flavorful than "nonstick cooking spray". Tripling the cayenne pepper will give it some extra punch. I also replaced the soy sauce with coconut aminos & fish sauce, & the rice vinegar with coconut vinegar. So now this dish is Whole30-compliant & features coconut three ways.

Snack: cup of herbal tea.

Lunch: same basic meal as last night (pork chops, squash, apple-cabbage stew) but with an added bonus from the freezer - leftover cranberry sauce I made at Thanksgiving! It's Whole30-compliant because the only sweetener in it is date paste. This addition went perfectly with the pork & the cabbage, & really amped the meal up another notch. YUM.

Snack: kombucha. I really need to learn how to make my own; at about three bucks a bottle, my kombucha habit is expensive.

Dinner: Philippine chicken adobo, sweet potatoes, & steamed broccoli. Topped with onions & the sauce from the slow cooker, along with salt, pepper, & diced chives. Nomnomnom.


Colorful, tasty, Whole30-compliant. YAY.

My (clean) fridge is full of leftovers again: casserole, jicama salad, pork, cabbage, squash, cranberry sauce, chicken, sweet potatoes, & broccoli.

Snack: chamomile tea.

Sleep: wellll, we were out LATE with Bobo Bro, watching Sammy Dee Morton tear up some blues at El Chapultepec. I think I was in bed around 1 AM. Shadeaux got me up at 7:30 AM. Not gonna lie, I'm sleepy. Totally worth it though, because Sammy Dee is the man.

Breakfast: didn't eat until late. I had the last of the beef bourguignon, a grapefruit, & a cup of black Constant Comment tea. A weird - but oddly tasty! - meal.

I made a new breakfast recipe: Sausage & Spinach Breakfast Casserole. There's only four eggs in the 9x13 baking dish, along with about 5 cups of greens, a whole head of cauliflower, & a pound of pork breakfast sausage. It also contains bone broth, coconut milk, & some seasonings. It's a bit of a production to prepare, but it provides a TON of cruciferous & leafy green vegetables first thing in the morning. A worthwhile trade in my book.

Lunch: slice of the S&SBC (yummy!), kombucha.

Dinner: Hamburger (no bun), lettuce, tomato, & mayo; roasted sweet potato wedges; spicy dill pickles; & jicama salad.

Sleep: followed my routine, slept like a top (Huh?). 10 PM - 6:30 AM.

Breakfast: Hmmm. I think the greasy BLATs from last night's dinner are weighing me down this morning. I am normally a big fan of breakfast, but this morning even a cup of tea is unappetizing. I finally had a mug of barnyard bone broth, some blackberries, & a cup of black Constant Comment tea.

Lunch: prosciutto muffin, slice of sweet potato quiche, half an avocado, & half a sweet potato, roasted with coconut oil & pumpkin pie spice.

Snack: kombucha.

Dinner: Chile Verde repeat, ceviche appetizer & carne asada platter for entree (guacamole, mashed potatoes, sauteed mushrooms).

Sleep: OK. I followed my pre-bedtime routine but forgot the magnesium. I woke up several times in the night for no apparent reason. Also, hotpantsgalore reports that I was snoring badly last night. Sorry. 10:30 PM - 7:00 AM.

Breakfast: prosciutto muffin, slice of sweet potato quiche, half an avocado, blackberries (on sale yesterday at Sprouts), black Constant Comment tea.

Lunch: salad (spring mix, cucumber, carrots, bell peppers, Bragg's pomegranate dressing) & Mama's spaghetti sauce over zoodles.

Dinner: beef bourguignon & sweet potatoes roasted with coconut oil & sea salt.

Sleep: fine. Went to bed around 10:45 PM & slept until 8:00 AM because hotpantsgalore went skiing, meaning she was up early & took care of Shadeaux. Bliss!

Breakfast: prosciutto muffin, slice of sweet potato quiche, apple with almond butter, black Scottish breakfast tea.

Lunch: SERIOUS FOOD BOREDOM has set in. I ate Larabars for lunch because nothing in the fridge (four meal options!) sounded appealing. It's now dinner time & I'm hungry but still not interested in eating anything compliant.

Dinner: the last of the lemon-dill chicken & veggies, a huge salad (spring mix, cucumber, carrot, bell pepper, Tessamae balsamic dressing), broccoli with powdered ginger & coconut aminos.