Healthy Life Lessons

P1: I did my presentation today for the corporate fitness company and, thankfully, it went really well. None of the lawyers at this lawfirm showed up, of course, but all their assistants did, so I had a full room. The were engaged and asked lots of questions and gave me excellent assessments on the assessment forms, so I can't ask for more than that. But I'm pretty tired now...probably the adrenaline drop that follows an anxiety-provoking event, and also may have something to do with the fact that I cycled there and back (about 30 minutes each way) with a 10 lb weight in my knapsack. B., who runs the company thought I should bring it along so I could get audience members to demonstrate certain things using a real weight. Fortunately, the next time I give this seminar, I believe it's outside the city so I'll have to take the car. In that case, maybe I'll bring a 15 lb weight instead. P2: Following her exciting trip to Canada's Wonderland on Sunday, Big A h...

Get this: Little A is TERRIFIED of her shadow. Everytime she sees it, she bends down to try and touch it and gets hysterical. What an oddball she is!

P1: 95% on week 2s assignments for my psychopathology course. Considering the weekly assignments count for 50% of the final grade, I'm starting to feel pretty confident that I'll do okay. Not to mention I'm two-thirds of the way through my final paper and I think it's going pretty well. What I'm nervous about is my presentation for the corporate fitness company next Tuesday. I met with the CEO this week and it turns out that I totally misunderstood what was going to happen. I thought we were collaboratively giving the talk but it turns out it's just me, she won't even be there. Which isn't necessarily a bad thing. I may actually be less stressed because I won't feel like I am being scrutinized by her. She wants the talk to be very informal, which I think is a good idea but also makes me feel a bit funny. I am supposed to wear fitness clothing, since the topic is fitness, and make the whole thing very interactive with the audience. The clien...

Okay, give me the "Worst Mother of the Year" award. Yesterday on our way home from picking up Big A at daycare, Big A grabbed Little A's foot in the stroller and pulled her shoe off. Because it was disgustingly hot and humid I was feeling pissy and decided to just throw her shoe under the stroller. When we got home, said shoe was missing. Big A and Adam hopped in the car and drove up and down the street looking for the shoe but to no avail. I was beyond frustrated because it is the only pair of shoes we have that fit her aside from white patent leather Mary Janes that Big A wore once to my sister-on-law's wedding. So this morning, since Adam took Big A to my mother-in-law's for the day, I put Little A in the stroller and tried to re-trace our steps (she was none to happy to have to wear the Mary Janes!). When we were half way down the street, Little A threw the little container she was eating her breakfast out of and it rolled right under a parked car. As I...

This is easy and so delicious. You can use salmon instead of trout if you want. 1 lb fresh trout our salmon fillets 1/2 cup good quality balsamic vinegar 2 heaping tbls dijon mustard 2 garlic cloves, minced Heat vinegar over medium low heat and simmer until it reduces by about half. Remove from heat. Stir in mustard and garlic. If it is too thick, add a splash or two of additional balsamic vinegar. Brush onto fish and bake in over at 400 for 10-15 minutes (depending on the thickness of your fillets).

P1: I am enjoying the material in my present course for school but I still think the prof is an a-hole. He did apologize to me for his gaffe of berating me for a supposedly poorly researched argument which actually belonged to one of my classmates. Nevertheless, he's still a twit. Dr. M and I are just finalizing the details on all of our paper work for the Mount Sinai ethics board, so hopefully things with that will go smoothly. Next week I have a practice run of my presentation with the boss at the corporate fitness company I am consulting with. The presentation is on June 29th and I'm a bit nervous. I don't know the boss's style nor do I know the audience. Fortunately, since it's on all stuff fitness, I feel pretty confident about the material itself. P2: I feel like we've reached a new phase in our lives because Little A is a real toddler. No more baby. And no, I am not the least bit nostalgic. I am gleeful that I never have to deal with a newborn agai...

We had this for dinner tonight. It is perhaps one of my weirder creations but I love it. Actually, it's not that the combination of ingredients is weird, it's my method that is unconventional. I puree the peas to make a green sauce. I've seen this done as a topping for bruschetta, but never as a sauce for pasta. It's a shame because it's really good. And you can easily make this vegetarian by eliminating the sausage. 1 lb whole wheat short pasta (penne, rotini, fusilli, etc.) 500g bag frozen organic sweet green peas 4 cloves garlic, minced 2 cups vegetable or chicken stock 1 lb spicy Italian turkey sausage, or any sausage you like, sliced into bite sized pieces 1 tsp fennel seeds 1 cup white wine Cook pasta according to directions on package. Pour peas, garlic and stock into a large sauce pan and simmer until peas are cooked but still bright green. Let cool and then transfer into food processor and process until almost smooth (I like a bit of texture). Add m...

Professor A Hole sent me an apology today admitting that he mixed my name up with the other student's because they both start with the same letter. While I am glad that he apologized, I still think the tone of his message was condescending and highly inappropriate. I took Big A to an open house for her kindergarten today. She had a tantrum as we were leaving the school (not wanting to wear her shoes in the stroller kicked it off...) and then she had a MAJOR tantrum tonight after Adam left to go to a concert with his dad. I am thinking that perhaps she is actually quite nervous about starting school in the fall and doesn't know how to deal with her emotions and also doesn't know how to articulate them. Or maybe she's just a rotten child, who knows...

P1: I am beginning to realize that things are going to move slowly in terms of getting my project set up at Mount Sinai. Everyone who has to be involved is very busy and there is a lot of bureaucracy involved. Until our proposal is passed through the ethics board, it looks like the only thing I can do is prepare the information packages on miscarriage support for patients. Oh well, my timeline is flexible. This is all about setting the stage for my future career and I still have over a year and a half left of school. I am not enjoying my current course, Psychopathology, as much as the others so far. The professor is a dolt. He has set up the course in such a way that you can end up wasting a lot of time. For example, you cannot post an answer to one of his discussion questions that has already been answered by someone else. You have to respond to the other students' responses. While I understand the value of trying to make this interactive, it also means that several times...

Chili isn't your typical spring meal but it is cool and rainy here today and I love chili anytime of year. I added okra for extra veggie content but if you don't like it, use a 1 lb bag of frozen corn and/or lima beans. This makes a huge amount so I usually freeze the extra for a quick meal on an occasion when I don't have time to cook. Serve over brown rice or with a side of corn bread. Vegetarian Chili 1 tsp olive oil 1 large onion, diced 2 large carrots, diced 2 red and 2 green bell peppers, diced 4 stalks celery, diced 4 garlic cloves, minced 2 chipotle peppers in adobo sauce or 1 jalapeno pepper (optional), finely diced, if you want heat 4 tbls chili powder (you need this much for the flavour, it usually has no heat) 1 tbls ground cumin 1 tbls cocoa powder 1 can tomato paste 1 can black beans 1 can red kidney beans 1 can crushed tomatoes 2 300g bags frozen, sliced okra 1.5 cups water or vegetable stock In a large pot, saute onion, garlic and veggies in oil over medi...

P1: I just started a new course: Psychopathology, so of course I'm totally stressed. At the beginning of each course I am plagued by thoughts like, "This material is too sophisticated for me, I'm going to flunk" or "I am never going to have time to do all the work." The fact that I've done extremely well in all the courses so far doesn't seem to give me any confidence. Yes, I know, I need lots of psychological help myself... I met with Dr. M at Mount Sinai today and we discussed our research study. Doesn't look like I can get access to patients until it is approved by the ethics board and I am officially a "research assistant", so we have to finalize all the paper work. She is hoping I can get started in July. I am kind of relieved it won't start now as I am kind of feeling overwhelmed. Fortunately, I finish up my first course from the certificate in miscarriage/infertility counselling this week and there is not another one o...