Happy 2011!

Love this mashup and thought it would be a good way to welcome 2011. 
2010 sucked for so many reasons, so I'm going to try to be a little more optimistic.  Of course I was upbeat going into 2010, but look where that got me.  Ha ha ha! Still, I'm not dead.  Mr. Wonderful is still pretty wonderful (most days).  Sis and I haven't killed each other yet. I have a roof over my head, a safe job (I think) that I mostly love, amazing friends, and coins in my pocket.  Not sure what's ahead, but if I made it through this year intact both mentally and mostly physically (minus the cancerous thyroid and lymph nodes), I figure I can handle anything .  I come from a long line of stubborn women.

Christmas Celtic Sojourn 2010, Rehearsal

Shaquille O'Neal Conducts the Boston Pops

Maestro Shaq!

Yes, our first ever visit to see the Boston Pops Holiday concert, and we get Shaquille O'Neal as our guest conductor!  It was so cool. 
1.  The man is ginormous.  Huge.  He makes Keith Lockhart look like a pygmy, and even Mr. Wonderful would look small at 6'7.  Shaq is 7'1.
2. Man can move!  The clip is his conducting a Michael Jackson song, and the dancing is impressive.
3. His head moves in time with the music like a bouncing ball.
4.  Even from the lower level balcony seats about half way back, his hands looked like shovels. 
5. I've never heard an orchestra play "We Are the Champions", and I've never heard the "Hallelujah Chorus" sung by the same group that later sings "We Are the Champions".  Amazing.
6.  The sing along wasn't too mushy.
7. Renese King has a great voice and was fantastic.
8.  I really was looking forward to hearing "Sleigh Ride", but Shaq conducted it, so it wasn't up to par with the Arthur Fiedler version on my iPod.  Slightly disappointed, but I'll have to go back next year. 

All in all, I really enjoyed night number 2 of cultural explorations.  Drawback:  it did snow.  Yup, we got a couple of inches, and guess when it started?  Right as Mr. W and Sis were making their way to my work to meet me there since it's only a few blocks (ok, long blocks) from Symphony Hall.  I figured we'd go to a nearby pub (curry chips!! Yes!) and then walk.....
Let's just say that the wind-driven snow snarled up traffic and trolley alike, so we trudged in the snow.  And it was chilly.  By the time we reached Symphony Hall, we were frozen and frosty white.  It took a while to warm up.  I think my feet are still numb.  Sis and I had on boots, but Mr. W had on shoes.  Remember they said that it was supposed to amount to nothing?
In my next life, I want to come back as a weatherman in New England.  How come no one ever yells at them about accuracy, and they keep their jobs year in and year out? 
When the concert was over, we headed out of the hall and started to walk back. The snow had stopped, but it was cold.   A mild disagreement ensued over the wisdom of walking in slippery snow or descending into Symphony station with a few hundred new friends, and walking won out.  We beat the trolley.  I couldn't feel my face until I got home.

I also found a clip of the group of musicians who played at the Celtic Sojourn--it's from a rehearsal, but I thought it sounded good. 

However, I can't figure out how to get the clips into the body of this post, so I posted both of them seperately.  Both are on YouTube.  When I put them into the original post, I couldn't add text due to the constant loading of the videos.  It was driving me crazy, so I opted for Plan B before I threw something at the comptuer. 
So what can we come up with for January?  I told Mr. W it's his turn to plan something cultural.  I should remind him that car shows, book shops and old fire trucks that are for sale do not count as "cultural", right?

Snow went out to sea!

Phew, my "snow event" induced meltdown the other day wasn't necessary.  Being true New England, wait a few minutes, or in this case overnight, and the weather will change.

Today was gray, overcast and felt like snow, but no little white flakes fell from the sky.

We just got home from "A Christmas Celtic Sojourn", and I have to say the show was really really good.  Not as cheesey as I thought it would be, and the music was fantastic.  I love Seamus Egan and Robbie O'Connell....and Brian O'Donovan did a great description of childhood Christmases in Clonakilty!  I knew he was from West Cork, but I didn't realize it was Clon.  All in all it was a good take.

From there we moseyed into Chinatown and had dinner in a Malaysian restaurant.  That's a first!  Never had Malaysian food before.  We walked by these large windows, and the crowd was predominantly Asian.  Figured that was a good sign in Chinatown, so we went in.  I had a green curry chicken clay pot with veggies, and Mr. Wonderful had some kind of pork dish.  I also had about 4 little cups of tea, and now I think I will be completely wired on caffeine, unable to sleep.  Not a good thing since I stupidly agreed to meet with a parent at 7am...groan.  If this parent's child ever decided to do some work, we wouldn't have any issues.  The kid got a zero on the last vocab quiz....on review vocab....at least by meeting at 7am, the meeting can only last til 7:25.  I had better get to bed.  Boston Pops tomorrow night!

I have the words of "Mrs. Fogarty's Christmas Cake" running through my head....

Get a lil' culcha in ya life if Motha Naycha lets ya...

From tonight's news. You've got to be kidding. 

Deep heavy sigh.  They say there is a nor'easter coming up the coast for Sunday into Monday.  There's a possibility that it will hook out to sea and just brush the coast.  There's also a possibility that the storm will come right up to our doorstep and stay for a while, meaning large amounts of snow for us.  I totally forgot that we got 20 inches of snow at this same time last year and it messed up the last week before vacation...

Did I look at the calendar when I got all these great ideas?  What were my great ideas?  Culture!  We need a little culture in our lives.  Hmm....what should we do right around Christmas?  I know! 

Let's go see the Boston Pops!  I've never seen them (shameful, I know.). Yay!  Got tix for Mr. W and Sis.  I also got tix for A Christmas Celtic Sojourn at the Cutler Theater.  I saw clips of it on PBS, and it looks interesting.  Seamus Egan from Solas is the music director, so that right there should make it a worthwhile excursion. I love his stuff...

Looking at the calendar, I got tix for the Celtic thing on Sunday at 5pm--great!  Dinner, maybe a little shopping, strolling around downtown to get in the Christmas spirit...Mr. W thought it was a good idea.  Then, Sis said she has a dentist appointment on Monday and will be in the area, so I thought, "Pops tix?" I got the tix online, got some seats in the lower balcony with an aisle seat for Mr. W--perfect!
Yay!  Irish music (probably a little cheesey, but worth a try to get in the Christmas spirit) and a real Boston tradition that somehow my family never paid attention to, and double yay!  Culture!  Live music!  No worrying for a couple of hours about my thyroid, school, grading, moving....

And now there's a nor'easter coming up the coast to mess with my plans.

Funny thing is, I called Sis about getting the tix for the Pops, and she informed me, "If it snows I'm not coming.  Did you think about the chance for bad weather?"

Um, no, I hadn't really thought about it, thanks. Did I mention that I didn't remember last year at this exact time?

So now that she said that, there has to be a nor'easter just in time for these two days, right?

Did I mention that it was in the paper today that Shaquille O'Neal is going to be at the Pops Monday night to do a reading of "Twas the Night Before Christmas" and be a guest conductor for "Sleigh Ride"?

If it weren't for bad luck, we'd have no luck at all.

I won't be sad to see 2010 go away....

Maybe we'll get a snow day out of this.

I need to find my winter boots and figure out how to dress them up.  I don't think the Bean snow boots will work at Symphony Hall...

Happiness is....

a big Irish breakfast for dinner cooked by Mr. Wonderful!

Not an actual picture of dinner because I didn't take one.  This will give you an idea though. 

It was absolutely delicious.  And very unhealthy, but I think the last time I ate one was last February.  We found a convenience store on the other side of the city with three aisles of full shelves and two freezers of Irish products, run by a group of Pakistani men.  The store was called the "Lucky Shamrock".  Yup, I'm not lying.  Only in America. 

We filled up on goodies, including bangers, white and black pudding and brown bread.  I forgot to grab a package of rashers, so our breakfast was minus rashers, grilled tomato and mushrooms.  But the rest of it was lovely.  And Mr. W cooked it all on his own! Except for the hash browns, I made those.  

Lots of protein for dinner.  

Ignore the previous post.  I've figured that I'll find the bandwagon after the holidays and drive the damn thing.  Black and white pudding was too good to pass up.  And besides--I slept in today til 11:30 after a late night Christmas party, and the only thing I had to eat all day was brown bread toast....

Pat Shortt's song is running through my head...

"Two eggs two sausage two rashers two bacon two pudding one black one white..."  

I also bought some Club Lemon, lots of different flavored crisps and Cadbury's chocolate.  And brown bread.  Can't forget the brown bread. 

So it was a good food day. 

Preps are underway for the holidays...sort of.  A dinner party Friday night and a party last night helped set the mood.  Now I just have to do some shopping and find my decorations.  And decide where to decorate.  And look for last minute gifts.  And wrap them.  And finish the Christmas cards.  

Stress level is high too--I stayed home Thursday and Friday to work on my 53 college rec letters that have to be done by mid-January. I have 21 done, 32 to go.  I have most of the remaining 32 started, but was almost more depressed at the end of the day Friday when I realized that I'm nowhere near finished and am looking at least probably one more hour per letter to finish. 

 Let's just say I had an unfortunate incident with an innocent loaf of zucchini bread, and it was sent flying in pieces all over the kitchen. Incredibly stupid, yes.  And very messy to clean up.  And a waste of a good loaf of yummy bread.  It's a really long story/string of events to explain, but when I get stressed, if I'm alone, I'll throw things.  My tirade messed up my assignment of bringing an appetizer to the dinner party to the annoyance of the host, and has now left me without zucchini bread for the week.  Sigh.  Too much stuff piled up at the end of the day, and time management has always been a challenge for me; result--too much to do while still arriving late.  And a pulverized zucchini loaf.  

However, I talked to Sis en route to the dinner party and she calmed me down.  Mr. Wonderful was his usual wonderfulness and helped with stress relief hugs later.  We went for a walk on Saturday, went to another party and I got lots of extra sleep over the weekend.  Only 9 days of classes, and then vacation.  That seems doable, right?  At least that's what I'm telling myself as I type this.  

I spent the afternoon today correcting two sets of AP tests.  Three sets of level 4 tests and level 4 essays to go, along with two sets of AP practice essays to read by break.  Did I mention that the term ends the 23rd, and I'll have to test the little buggers again, meaning more stuff to correct?  

Things had better even out by term three.  This year just sucks.  

On a good note, I have scones and brown bread, and the Patriots won today in snowstorm in Chicago.  Love Tom Brady, but not loving the hair.  

Off to bed, and hoping for a good week.  

Battle of the Bulge

Last night was kind of sad.  In preparation for our move that will happen, oh, someday, I went through my drawers and closet to purge some stuff that hasn't seen the light of day in ages.  This was prompted by a day-long shopping trip in search of a couple of outfits that will fit better.  I haven't completely gone up one whole size in pants, but I'm stuck kind of in-between, so nothing "feels" right.  My shirt and jacket size has gone up one size.  Ugh.

I went through the closet first and was surprised to see a few things that I thought fit now didn't.  I started throwing things out the door, and pretty soon there was a growing pile on the living room floor.  From the closet I moved on to the drawers and was ruthless.  If I hadn't seen it in a year, out it went.  I try to overhaul the inventory each time I switch seasons but hadn't done it yet this year.   As a result, there was a rather large bag of stuff in another room. This bag has been here for a couple of years, full of stuff I liked but didn't want to get rid of yet.  I figured I'd fit into them again one day....they went into the bag during the five rounds of infertility drugs I did--each round put on 5 more pounds without permission.  I'd wake up one morning and BAM, the scale went up 5 more pounds.  Do the math and you can see where I'm at from the time I got married until the thyroid explosion of 2010.  I managed to keep my weight steady for years until gonal-F and menopur entered my life and ovaries and had a ball.  I was coming to terms with that change and trying to get myself on track to work the weight off again.  Once you're told you should give up with getting pregnant, you might as well re-direct your energies, so I pulled out my Weight Watchers point guide and started counting again. Worked before, should work again.  I did some walking and had bursts of regular exercise, and even had days where the scale slowly inched downward.  Nothing better than stepping on the scale and seeing it one number less, right? 

Disclaimer:  I have spent my entire (*&^%$#@#@ life struggling with my weight and assorted self-esteem issues, so this is nothing new. It's just different. 

Where was I?  Oh yeah--the thyroid explosion.  After all the cancer crisis, I was still managing to keep my weight steady which was apparently a good thing from what I had read on the Thyca forum.  I held my breath, thinking that maybe this side effect wouldn't hit me.  I puffed out during Hypo Hell, but it seemed to go away once I was back on my beloved levoxyl.  Then, my TSH started getting closer to suppression level, and it seems like once I hit 0.1, I woke up one morning and you guessed it, 5 more pounds.  The next week, 5 more pounds.   I think I've stopped there for now, but I'm not sure.  I'm almost afraid to eat sometimes despite being ravenously hungry all the time.  That doesn't help at all--by being in the hyper zone, my metabolism is revved up enough to make me hungry, but not enough to help with weight loss.

Ok, I don't look like this.  I just feel like it some days.  

Did I mention my hair is still coming out in  record numbers?  I know that has nothing to do with weight loss, but it is pretty annoying and gross.  

In the meantime, I'm not sleeping through the night (ever), so I'm waking up permanently tired.  Not sure if that's the thyroid, perimenopause or a combo of both.  Whatever it is, it sucks.  Today, tired.  

It was hard at the end of the night, looking at what some of those clothes represented--miscarriages, hormone rages, needles, crushing disappointment and frustration, thyroid hell, hypo hell, cancer.....

Like Mr. Wonderful said, "You can always buy new clothes."  Gotta love a man who encourages his wife to go shopping.  And I did, hitting a 25% off special at one store, and 30% off at another.  Found two jackets, two sweaters and one pair of pants.  Merry Christmas to me.  Wait--since we don't have kids, I went a little crazy and bought a ton of toys for Toys for Tots, so it wasn't all about me.  Just a little.  

I'm staring at the giant pile right now since we don't have any large garbage bags to bag it all up.  Another phase to push through, just in time for the new year.  Throw out all the old?  And everything that goes with it?  There was some satisfaction in getting rid of the sweatshirt I wore on RAI day--not sorry to see that go.  

However, my goal is to get the weight back down to a place where I can look at myself in a picture that someone has taken and be happy with what I see.  Right now, I don't quite know who the puffy face is smiling back at me while obviously trying to get the best camera angle to hide the bulges.   And the other part of the goal is to not move into any sizes that have a number followed by X, or a W.  No no no, I want to keep shopping in stores with lots of variety.  I don't want my body shape to look like an apple, and that's where I'm headed.  Lucky for me I'm tall so the weight can go to lots of different places;  right now it's going to my middle.  Hard to get anything to fit right when that happens.  

I'm still grateful though, and might just spend the day in flannel pj bottoms and a sweatshirt.  

 Zero cancer is way better than more fabric any day. 

La lucha sigue....