Monday, January 24, 2022

Weekly Round Up: Hibernation Edition

 
 
A weekly round up: eats, workouts, watches, and reads.  This week winter came in for reals and we had an epic stir fry.
 

Operation Hibernation

Since we last talked, we've gotten so much snow and so much cold that the only viable lifestyle right now is hibernation.  So much snow that the kids got a snow day, and so much snow that even step dog is sick of it.  Normally she loves winter, but something about the snow being as tall as her (about knee high for scale) really spooked her.  We had a night where the low got below zero, and we've had lots of single digits temps as well.

In addition to winter drama we had electrical drama.  On Thursday morning the silent alarm on my Garmin went off at gym o'clock and I wasn't really feeling it.  I considered skipping my workout, but the voice in my head said "c'mon, you're already awake, just get up and do it already".  I crept downstairs to the kitchen and turned on the light...and the light didn't turn on.  The microwave clock was out.  Huh, must be a power outage.  I crept back upstairs, and when I got to our room the first thing that I saw was the glare of my husband's alarm clock.  Hmmm....I went back downstairs.  The basement lights were working, that was a good sign.  I took a look at the electrical box and didn't see any fuses out.  What a mystery but at least I can still get my workout, right?  Wrong.  The treadmill was dead.  I went back upstairs and moved the coffee maker to a working outlet and snuggled up on the couch.

Half an hour later hubs and the boys got up and we made a proper assessment of what was going on.  There were no fuses out, but the appliances, the furnace, and about half of our lights were out.  It was below 20 degrees and the house was getting chilly.  Luckily we know of a really good electrical company, so once we got the boys off to school, hubs gave them a call.  Being a good electrical company, they didn't say "get your wallet out and we'll come over", they said "that sounds like a problem with the outside line.  Call the city"

Anyhoo, the upshot was that it was indeed a problem with the outside line so it was the city's responsibility to fix and not ours.  They came out right away and took care of us.  There's nothing like losing your heat to make you appreciate it a little more.  And nothing like losing your heat and not having to pay to get it fixed to make you feel like you came out on top.

What's happening now?  More snow!!!  More nightly lows of zero.  More burrowing in with the dog until spring comes.

Food

We had an unexpected hit on the dinner front this week.  I say unexpected because I changed my mind several times about what I was going to make.  We've been on the hunt for an epic chicken stir fry.  I remembered to take chicken out of the freezer to thaw, I got mushrooms, and I got water chestnuts.  But when it came time to cook, I started having doubts about the recipe that I'd picked out.  Stir fry is stir fry, it was just a question of the sauce.  I started cooking and changed my mind about two dozen more times.  At the last minute, I remembered that when we get takeout my husband usually gets Moo Goo Gai Pan, so that was my last google.  And thank you Jo Cooks for coming to the rescue.  The sauce is basically thickened chicken broth with a splash of mirin and a splash of sesame oil, so it doesn't get any easier than that.

This weekend was Boy Scout camp weekend.  By rights hubs and stepson #2 are done with their COVID isolation, but we still wanted to play it a bit on the safe side, so they only went to camp during the day and came home at night, while stepson #1 stayed out the whole weekend.  As a result it was just #2 and me for dinner on Friday night, and I knew that this would be the perfect occasion to have an elegant pasta dinner.  We revisited Damn Delicious One Pot Garlic Parmesan pasta and once again==>highly recommend.


Workouts

I've made my peace with being inside and on the treadmill.  I put in some extra miles this week, with a lot of speed bursts and always with a finisher at 6% incline for 100 feet of up.

My favorite workout of the week ended up being on Thursday.  That was the power outage day, which was the only morning so far in my life where both outside AND inside running were not an option.  Later in the day after the power was back I was able to step away from work and get 'er done.  I did a pattern of one minute very fast-one minute walking-one minute jogging and the time went so fast that I actually stayed on for an extra mile.

Saturday morning it was well below zero so of course it was going to be a treadmill day, but I kept procrastinating.  Around noon I took the dog out, and was very surprised that the roads were clear and that it didn't feel as cold as advertised.  For the first time this week the dog was excited to be out as well.  After we got back home I decided to bundle up and at least run a mile.  The temps were in the high teens and at first it felt harsh.  I knew that I wouldn't be out for very long, but I quickly settled into a groove and kept going.  I stayed in my neighborhood so that I would never be very far from home, and before I knew it I'd done six miles.  It was a nice change up before the next big snowstorm.

I've started looking at February races.  Surprisingly there's a 5k nearly every weekend, and even a Cupid's Undie Run in the area!  As tempting as the undie run is, I'll probably do the 5k that's on the first weekend in February.  I'll hold off on registering until I get a better idea of the weather.

Watching 

From the treadmill: my AFI Top 100 rewatch of the week was the stuff that dreams are made of!  That's The Maltese Falcon and yes I've seen it a billion times before but I was due for a rewatch.  Fun fact the next time you hear someone complain about remakes: the movie that we all know and love as The Maltese Falcon was remake #2.



From the couch: Hubs and stepson #2 opted for The Incredibles for family movie night.


 

Reading

I finally finished The Disaster Artist and then moved back to fiction.  Currently: The Four Winds by Kristen Hannah.

Puzzling

My favorite winter past time...I've done both of these before.














20 comments:

  1. Those puzzles look fun! What a bummer on the electricity outage, but it's great that it got taken care of promptly (and for free). When we lost power for 11 days (or maybe it was longer?) after the derecho, I learned really quickly how much we depend on it...but also, how it was possible to make do without it. It would def be a different scenario in the winter, though!

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    1. I had forgotten about your 11 days without power! We were practically living in the lap of luxury with half of our power.

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  2. What are the odds that you can't run outside OR inside?!
    It's a good thing that your power was back on the same day. My 10k training program has a workout which is very similar to what you did: 1 minute off, 1 minute on. I do like your additional 1-minute jog, though!

    Yay for 5k races! Short, intense and a great workout. Looking forward to reading the review in February, Birchie!

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    1. Let's see, so far the odds are half a day out of the past 12 years...not sure what that works out to besides a very small number;-)

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  3. Gah, power outages are so stressful!

    Do people run in their panties? I haven't heard of this!

    Those puzzles look fun and challenging. I love a good puzzle.

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    1. Hee hee I haven't been to an event like this in person, but I've heard about events like this and even nude races. Anyone who does a race in their undies in February gets my respect, that's for sure.

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  4. Oh, those puzzles are so cute! Who doesn't love a cat sleeping on books?

    I'm super impressed that you can just change up something on the fly when you're cooking. Even if it's a sauce or a vegetable ingredient, I can't bring myself to substitute on the spur of the moment!

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    1. Ha, necessity is the mother of invention. Most of my changes are due to me spacing out and skipping a step, or from me not making sure that we have all of the ingredients beforehand. Two very good habits that other people seems to have figured out.

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  5. Ha, now every time I hear about someone running in the cold and snow, I think about the David Goggins book I just read! He also wouldn't be phased by a power outage in the middle of winter. I feel like I got tougher just from reading it. (But glad you power came back quickly!)
    Nice job on the runs, and the stir fry. After many lackluster stir fries (I always just wing it) I promised my son I would learn how to make a really good one before he comes home again. I have about six weeks to achieve it!

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    1. David Goggins would run barefoot through snow up to his knees and never miss a beat!

      My problem with stir fry is that I love spicy but that doesn't work for the rest of my family. Once the spice is out, I feel like a lot of the sauces are either really sugary (great for the kids but not so much for the adults) or just really soy-saucy (kind of a miss for everyone).

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  6. Ugh - electricity issues are so upsetting!

    Love the meals you had - they both look and sound delicious.

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    1. Luckily we don't have problems very often. Yes, I got two good hits this week which is a good week around here. I like your menus a lot better!

      P.S. for people who don't know what we're talking about check out Suzanne's weekly meal plans @ https://lifeofadoctorswife.wordpress.com/

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  7. hat a bummer about the power outage esp in the winter brrrr

    I don't own a treadmill so I have no choice but run outside no mater what. It's not so bad. The hardest part is getting out the door.

    Those are cute puzzles.

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    1. I admire you for being able to get out there. I just don't feel safe on the ice and the dark so that's why I'm inside. Before we had the treadmill I would stop running in the winter and it was always so hard to restart in the spring.

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  8. Brrrr. Having such chilly temps and losing power is NOT a good combination. I am glad it was fixed promptly and you were even able to get your workout in later that day. Kudos to you.

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    1. Yes, yet another fun winter adventure. Someday it will be spring and I'll have my choice or indoor and outdoor running again;-)

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  9. Oh wow, that's crazy about your electrical! But oh so good to have someone to give you the advice to call without a big bill. One year our furnace went out the night before a ski trip out west. We cuddled up to a space heater before we left and came home to a really, really cold house!! Thanks for the recipes. I plan to try those out!

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    1. Brrr! It's always hard to transition from vacation back to normal life but that must have been a tough one to come home to.

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  10. I can see how snow above one's head could be rather, well, daunting for stepdog. Particularly if it just kind of... appeared one morning. :)

    Also? Your electrical issues sound like they could have been disastrous, and I'm glad that the electrician knew right away what to do. (not to mention that the city hopped on it right away - impressive! then again... below 0 temps.)

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    1. She usually loves snow but this was way too much of a good thing. We've still got a ton of it but it's finally warming up. Yes we lucked out with the electric this time.

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