Poker Face

Anyone who has known me for more than an hour knows that I have a TERRIBLE poker face.

Something about wearing my emotions on my sleeve. Or something like that.

Anyway, this week I had meetings for work where they put on mandatory evening events. One of the events was a Poker Tournament.

And I won.

Which is funny, considering my horrendous poker face. I couldn't control my squeal when I was dealt great cards. I would start to giggle if a perfect card was flipped up. I would literally SIT ON THE EDGE OF MY SEAT if I was nervous or scared. Not hard to read right though me.

Even more funny is the fact that I have NEVER played poker.

I was trying to learn, but I couldn't ask anyone for advice because everyone was playing, so I had to learn AFTER each hand. I would pick my cards up and ask the guys next to me what I should have done on the previous hand.

The second hand I was dealt was an Ace and a 9. I folded, because they weren't the same number and they weren't the same suit. After the hand, the guy next to me said "NEVER DO THAT AGAIN".

Needless to say, I learned quickly and did very well. Mostly it was dumb luck. I have no idea why or how people play with actual money, but it was fun to play "pretend" and I won a nice prize.

Last night I went to a friend's and played a game I'm MUCH more familiar with - Rook - and, just to keep me humble, my team got SMOKED.

Advice I Need....

....and have needed, and will continue to need.....

I read some advice on contentment over at The Purple Cellar. You can find the original post here but I wanted to post the main points as well. These steps to contentment are from E. B. Pusey, a 19th century church leader.

1. Allow thyself to complain of nothing, not even of the weather.
2. Never picture thyself under any circumstances in which thou art not.
3. Never compare thine own lot with that of another.
4. Never allow thyself to dwell on the wish that this or that had been, or were, otherwise than it was, or is. God Almighty loves thee better and more wisely than thou dost thyself.
5. Never dwell on the morrow. Remember that it is God's, not thine. The heaviest part of sorrow often is to look forward to it. "The Lord will provide."

2, 3, and 4 are particularly helpful for me. I should probably be reminded of this list quite often. So feel free to remind me.

Wonderful Weekend

I basically enjoyed every single moment of my weekend.

• LOTS of laughs with my older sister and her friends on Friday night. LOTS.
• Beautiful weather - a nice drive home from Wisconsin on Saturday.
• Played with a friend's VERY cute (and huge) puppy. Also caught up with said friend. Caught up quickly, but still.
• Went on a walk. With a boy. And he is very nice. And very cute. And I was very nervous.
• Bought a new suit for work. Much needed.
• EASTER (the best part of the weekend). I LOVE MY CHURCH. And I love celebrating Christ risen from the dead.
• Tennis with my little sister.
• Watching the Masters. A playoff even. Good stuff.
• Chocolate Chip Pancakes for dinner. YUM.
• Amazing Race coming up.

So. What a nice weekend.

Follow Up

I've gotten some great suggestions from my post on how to grocery shop for one.

I remember reading Jenna's post about green bags months ago and thinking "oh, I should try those". Still haven't tried them, but it seems like they are worth a try.

Kristie gave many pieces of great advice in response to my post. Menu planning is one area that I can really improve in! I just feel like my schedule is so flexible (one of the definite advantages of being single!) so I never really know what meals I will actually have to plan for. But I really can do a better job and that should help me to grocery shop. And yes, eggs in packs of 6 are my favorite! I actually say "YES!" out loud in the grocery store when I find them!

Another thing I didn't mention that has been AWESOME for me this month is Let's Dish. Hannah's sister invited me to come to her Let's Dish party earlier this month and I thought I would give it a try. I made 4 meals which I then split in half (each original meal makes 6 servings) and froze. The meals are very tasty, they are portion-controlled (I usually get a dinner and a lunch of leftovers out of the 3 servings I cook) and it is less expensive than a fast food meal. And much healthier! I love that I just need to pull the meal out of the freezer in the morning and it is ready to cook when I come home from work. Hardly any mess and NO wasted food or ingredients! So, if you have the freezer space, I would recommend it (even for couples - you can do the split meals as well, but you just won't have leftovers).

So, thanks for the input!

Can't Eat Fast Enough

I've been single for awhile (if you consider "my whole entire life" to be "awhile") and I still have no idea how to go about grocery shopping.

I cannot eat the food I buy before it goes bad. For instance, there is no way I will eat an entire loaf of bread before it grows mold, so I stopped buying it. I tried keeping it in the freezer, but I run out of room and I get sick of toasting it every time I want to eat it. So. No more bread. And eggs. I like to have eggs on hand in case I get the urge to make cookies. But I seriously don't eat a dozen eggs in....months! I think eggs do last for a long time, but sometimes I don't know how long, so I just toss them (someone just informed me of the "float rule" this week, so that should help). Also, MILK. ALL of the milk I buy goes bad. I would just buy a quart, and even THAT would go bad before I could drink it all, so now I just buy the single serving things from the gas station. Lame. Even those go bad sometimes.



And today I found this:

Okay, this onion had NOTHING GROWING OUT OF IT WHEN I BOUGHT IT! So over the course of however long (seriously can't remember when I bought it...) the onion grew....whatever that is. And now I'm not sure if the onion is actually "bad" or not, but I refuse to eat it. So. More wasted food. And I hate wasting food! (The other scary thing is that I haven't even noticed that something was growing on it until it got that large....gross)

I think part of the problem is that the home I grew up in doubled as a catering business, so we bought absolutely EVERYTHING in bulk. Because, you know, when my mom cooked and baked, she was cooking and baking for a couple hundred people (a couple times a day).

There probably is a great way to shop for food when you are single, but I just don't know it. So if you do, please enlighten me! And DON'T tell me to buy all those things that are packaged as single servings or whatever because that is a serious waste of money and all you are paying for is packaging.

Okay. End of rant.

Oh, it is ON

About a week ago we had another weigh-in for our weight loss competition. I am down 15 pounds from the start of the year, so I am PSYCHED to still be on track for my goal of losing 5 pounds a month. YES! However, I am no longer winning the competition. My older sister is beating me by .1%. Not 1%, but .1%. So. It is ON! There is no way I am going to lose $250 by .1%!

Please, I implore you, do NOT tempt me with cookies or baked goods of any kind for the next six weeks. I do a good enough job of that myself.

The bummer is that I have a stress fracture in my left foot. Well, not "officially", but playing basketball last night most definitely confirmed in my mind that there is a stress fracture going on. Jumping, running, and cutting = not able to bear weight on my foot. It hurt.

So swimming it is. Which is really fine with me. I LOVE swimming, and was reminded of that today. Not only is it a great workout, but I also get to sit in the hot tub after. And there is nothing that gets me even MORE excited about the cabin than diving into water.

Looking Forward

Haven't been blogging much lately. Haven't really been in the mood. Haven't really been in the mood for anything. Kinda in a funk. Much of the funk is due to my sadness over the fact that one of my favorite best friends won't be living in the same state as me anymore. (Don't get me wrong, it's exciting for them and all, but it is also sad. I love her! Her husband is great! Her baby is the bestest ever! I want to be around for everything going on in their lives. But alas, we will have to invest in webcams.) Combine that with the probable stress fracture in my left foot, annual reviews at work, and the dreary weather (until today).....it's just been.....blah.

BUT.

There is something I am EXTREMELY EXCITED about.

IT'S ALMOST CABIN TIME!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I (thankfully) worked a conference today, so I was done at noon. I had heard on the radio that the Lake Home and Cabin Show was going on this weekend in Minneapolis, so I took the extra time I had this afternoon and headed over there. It was fun to browse and dream and scheme. I seriously CAN'T WAIT to head up to the cabin!!!

There are definitely times when I get a little stressed about owning a home - especially one that I don't live in! But the anticipation of spending quality time up there with friends and family, and all by myself, makes the stress seem insignificant. I always pray that the cabin will be a blessing to everyone who takes the time to head up there, because it is a big blessing to me. And I'm so excited to share it!! BRING ON THE SPRING!