Dee74

Good to hear from you GC

D

Gonnachange

Thanks Dee. Between transitioning back to "real" life after vacation and the loss of the internet I was somewhat off kilter for most of the week. Fortunately life has returned to normal although I still have some post vacation catch up to do.


Friday

I had a solid workout at the gym this morning and overall am pleased with how my first week back went. I'm sore, as expected, but didn't lose as much strength as I anticipated. This weekend I'll do another run and to the extent that my next few go well I'll give consideration to some endurance (full and half marathons) later this year.

Since home I'm back to cooking. We went out to dinner on Saturday, but since then dinners have been:

Sunday: Fish (flounder) tacos and black beans
Monday: Roasted smoked paprika pork tenderloin and brown rice
Tuesday: Grilled rotisserie chicken with roasted Brussels sprouts
Wednesday: Slow cooked beef chuck roast, gravy, and chipotle yams
Thursday: Lamb chops and roasted cauliflower

I'm not sure what tonight will be. I'm leaning toward a shrimp dish. Maybe scampi with homemade pasta and a salad or shrimp and grits with the same side salad.

As tonight is the last Friday of the month we will probably be doing our normal thing and going to a local pub to see our friend's band. Frankly, I'd be fine with hanging at home, but if my wife wants to go I'll do so.

Gonnachange

Dinner last night was shrimp and grits with a salad. We wound up staying home and making it an early evening which put us in good shape to try something new this morning, a class at our gym that focuses on strength and aerobics. We enjoyed it and I think we're going to incorporate it into our weekly workout schedule.

No social plans for tonight, but we'll probably go out for dinner. In solidarity with my son who flew to Rome this morning we're leaning toward Italian cuisine.

Gonnachange

We changed our dinner plans last night and went for Mediterranean fare at a local restaurant within a mile of my house. Family owned, very good food, generous portions, and nice interaction with the owners. Last night was true to form.

I just finished making parsley infused linguini for tonight's dinner. I'll be serving the pasta with clams in a white clam sauce with a side of a tomato and seedless cucumber salad that will be topped with a vinaigrette made with garlic infused EVOO.

Last night was another early one and when I woke this morning it was about 45F/7C and raining. The thought of running of 3 miles/5 kilometers in that unpleasantness almost made me not go, but I reminded myself that I've run full marathons in worse conditions and since I'm not ready to become a wimp I went. It was okay, but I wasn't sad to be home afterward.

Gonnachange

I had a really good workout this morning despite not fully recovering from Saturday's funfest at the gym.

Dinner tonight is going to be pork chops with a paprika cream sauce and some type of grain.

Gonnachange

It's been a busy day and while I did get some things accomplished there was not any formal exercise. I plan on doing some stretching later because I'm sore from yesterday's gym session and I'll be moving iron tomorrow morning.

One of the items on my agenda was to come up with a Mother's Day present idea for my wife, but that was a spectacular failure. I'll put some time into it tomorrow with a fallback position of truffles from a 3rd generation local family owned chocolatier.

Gonnachange

I had a slow start to my workout, not sure why, but things reverted to normal and I finished well.

The airplane my son is on took off about 45 minutes ago and we'll be picking him up tonight. Because of that dinner is going to have to be earlier than normal and will be somewhat dependent upon my wife's and daughter's schedules. If time permits us to have a regular dinner, which I think it will, I'll be making a beef stir fry. If time is squeezed we'll just have to grab something on the go.

Gonnachange

We wound up having the stir fry for dinner last night. Tonight, for his first dinner at home in four months, my son requested tacos in recognition of Cinco de Mayo. So it will be along with a side of black beans.

Before doing the food shopping for the Mother's Day party we're hosting I did a short run. It was better than nothing, but nothing to brag about.

On a much more serious note, I spoke with my wife this morning about a troubling situation. As I've written about before one of her brothers is an alcoholic, who has lost his license, his job, his girlfriend, his apartment and at the age of 48 lives with his parents and has not had a meaningful job in over three years. My other BIL lost his job in November, through no fault of his own, and although I have not seen it there have been concerns that he has been drinking a lot. My wife, who is very well connected in the industry he works in, called him this morning at 11 to discuss an employment opportunity. He was hammered and almost incoherent. He's always drank more than the normal person, but is extremely responsible as an employee, husband, and father and while there are no indications that any of that has changed my wife and other family members are getting increasingly concerned. I don't think that things are going to spiral out of control as they did with my other BIL, but once again the family has something to worry about.

Gonnachange

A decent light workout at the gym this morning so I should be recovered enough to have a good showing at tomorrow morning's cardio/strength workout. I spent this afternoon car shopping with my son and after research and visitations we're honing in on one particular car. If all goes well a decision will be made next week.

Tonight my wife and daughter are meeting friends for a girls' night out and me and my son will go to dinner for our version of such. Not sure where we'll be going or what we'll do afterward, but I'm sure it will be enjoyable.

After getting back from the gym tomorrow most of the balance of the day is going to be spent preparing for Sunday's Mother's Day party. My game plan is in place; all I have to do now is execute.


New Info

Tonight my son and I will likely be going to a vegetarian Asian restaurant in town and then play pool and ping pong. He's probably going to soundly beat me in the former and I'll probably prevail in the latter.

Gonnachange

Last night my son and I wound up going to the restaurant I mentioned and afterward decided to come home and hang out.

This morning I had a really good workout at the training class I think I wrote about. Now that I have two sessions under my belt I'm even more convinced that dong this is going to be a regular part of my exercise regimen.

Since getting back from the gym I've either been in the kitchen or at my smoker in preparation for tomorrow's party. All is going well and although I have a couple more hours of work ahead of me today a lot of that is monitoring, stirring, etc. IOW, the heavy lifting for today is in the past. Guests arrive at 1 PM tomorrow.

We're likely going to go out for dinner tonight since I'll probably be sick of cooking once I'm done for the day. Where ever we go it's going to be low key and I'm hoping to make it an early evening so that I can wake up early tomorrow refreshed and ready to play host.

Yankee73

May I please come to your house for dinner? Like 7 days a week????

SoberLeigh

Hi, GC.

Gonnachange

Thanks for the compliment. :-)

It's wonderful to see your post.

So Far

I'm done with cooking and prep for the day. My wife is presently taking care of her stuff and will probably be done in about 90 minutes. One of the great things about all of our experience hosting parties is that we never have any discussions about what tasks each of us are going to own. Seamless, be it preparation or during the actual hosting. None of, "I thought you were making the coffee." type stuff.

It's looking more and more likely that we'll be going out to dinner; A local diner for a salad, burger, etc. will probably be our destination. After that we'll hang at home and get ready for a busy and fun day tomorrow.

Gonnachange

All is on schedule and we're ready for our guests to arrive in about 30 minutes.

Happy Mother's Day to all who celebrate.

SoberLeigh

Have a great time, GC.

Gonnachange

We did.

Monday

As noted above we had a great time and since the weather was cooperative and we saw sun for the first time in over a week most of the time people were outside.

One thing I've noticed over the past couple of years is that my wife and I do not recover as quickly from hosting as we used to. The planning, cooking, hosting, and cleaning are taking much more out of us than when we were younger; we're still going to continue to throw parties, but the change is something that we've both have observed and are cognizant of. That said, I'll be at the gym throwing some weights around in about 90 minutes.

I really wasn't paying attention, but my sense is that everyone who imbibed did so responsibly. I had nothing stronger than seltzer, but overall I did not hydrate enough so I'll make sure I do so today. I have no idea if my ABIL had anything with alcohol and the same goes for my other BIL who I wrote about a couple/few days ago. Frankly, while the party is in progress I have too many responsibilities that need to be addressed that are far more important to the success of the gathering than monitoring what grown adults are doing or not doing.

Dinner tonight is going to be leftovers.

Gonnachange

I had a very tough leg oriented workout this morning that left me hobbling out of the gym. Presently stairs are not my friend and I'm sure it will get worse before it gets better. IOW, all is good.

Dinner tonight is going to be stuffed pork tenderloin and a salad.

SoberLeigh

So glad that the party went well, GC.

Dinner sounds great which is good news for me - maybe my appetite is coming back.

Dee74

Time for a new thread:

http://www.soberrecovery.com/forums/...y-way-4-a.html

D