House Arrest

…and so wraps up the weekend of House Arrest.

Yes, yes. I know it’s Halloween weekend and I should have bee out in all sorts of weird costumes and stuff.

Not I, said the cat. I have always loathed Halloween, in case you’ve forgotten.

But while these furry four-leggeds were all cozy in the comfiest of chairs and beds, I was buckling down to:

• Animal behavior essay outline
• Nutrition intake analysis
• Photos for class
• pounding in fence-posts
• finishing the senior portraits I shot on Tuesday

Lesson: don’t leave everything for last minute.

Whoops. I work best under pressure, what can I say?

But if there’s one thing I’ve learned over the course of my life (says the elder full of wisdom) it’s that no matter what, you’ve just gotta make room for what you love, too.

You know – the good, the bad and the ugly sort of thing.

The good:

Finding all-but-forgotten Sweet Potato Muffins in the freezer when you’re looking for more distractions from the work at hand.

These amazing pecans that this lovely sent to me. These puppies are fan.tas.tic. Seriously – I am forever spoiled…I will never enjoy the pecans I usually buy again! B’s pecans are home-grown and all organic…and are smooth as butter.

Naturally, I had to use them in a Larabar-esque fashion. Because I was looking for more ways to be counter-productive to the tasks at hand.

Cut me some slack, though – at least I made something fast like Larabars!

The fruits of my labors. On the left is a fig, date, and pecan mix, and on the left is a date, pecan, molasses, hemp seed, quick oats, ginger, clove, and cinnamon mix. Oh, and a random Super-Charge Me! cookie. Don’t worry, won’t worry – I made those last night, after a day of productivity.

Simple sammiches that are bursting at the seams. Seriously – why do I always forget how wonderful simple hummus sammiches are? This one starred Cedar’s artichoke-kalamata hummus, pan-fried tempeh, romaine, and carrot.

FitDay.After much deliberation, I finally decided to purchase a software to do my nutrition intake analysis for class. I could have just bought the one we were supposed to use, but it was really expensive and all the reviews said it was pure product placement. I instead opted for FitDay. If anyone is looking for a good nutrition tracker, I would highly recommend it. I mean, it has “walking to and from an outhouse” under its activities. How could you go wrong?

Post drivers. Most people would hate having to repetitively use twenty pounds of pure steel to pound t-posts into the ground, but it’s a whole lot better than using a two-pound hammer. Strength training at its finest.

As I told my mom…I’d never forget the day I was putting posts in at A’s a couple summers ago, and accidentally lifted the driver back up, over the top of the post, only to slam it down on my head. It’s a wonder I’m still alive.

Though I guess that’s a good explanation for my current character.

Graham Flour. I might be a little addicted. Not only did I use them in the aforementioned Super-Charge Me! cookies – I crafted another rendition of carrot-banana muffins. Except they’re unlike any I’ve made before, and I credit it to graham flour.

Graham flour is a coarsely ground type of wheat flour that is unbleached, and less processed than whole-wheat flour. The production of graham flour starts by finely grinding the kernel or endosperm of winter wheat. The other parts of the wheat, germ and bran are also ground and added back to the endosperm grind, resulting in brown colored flour that many think is nicely sweet. [wisegeek]

This dinner.

I made Eat, Drink and Be Vegan’s Sweet Potato & Lentil Chili. Except it was more like Butternut and Sweet Potato Chili, as I used no lentils and instead doubled the kidney beans…and since I had a quarter of a butternut squash left in the fridge, figured I’d use that up along with sweet potato.

It’s so adjectively amazing. Seriously. I was worried it wouldn’t “work” – I mean, coconut oil?! But it does.

It really, really does.

The Bad:

Teddie. Well – Teddie wasn’t bad…rather, I didn’t get to ride the bugger this weekend (and that’s not me on him) but his time will come 😉

Sweet butternut squash. I’m all for butternut squash…just not the way most people enjoy it, apparently. I decided to “join the club” and try it with earth balance, cinnamon, and maple syrup. I could take it or leave it.

Margarine. I’m trying to get my mom to use stop using margarine and start using butter! She made a lovely apple crisp that was quite delicious…but with lots of margarine. I guess she grew up in the days of low-fat everything so it’d make sense that she thinks it’s healthier.

Oh, media, what you do to us.

Burt kale chips. I have a knack for it. They just go from “almost there” to “do you smell something burning?” I the matter of seconds.

The Ugly:

I attempted my first “baked tofu scramble” of sorts, and we’ll just say that the aesthetics leave lots to be desired.

Broke-up coconut flour waffles. I needed to clean my iron before I made these and didn’t :X

Oh, and I finally got my work done, too.

Well, most of it.

What’s a “good, bad, and ugly” of your weekend?

Do you have trouble buckling down, or are you pretty studious when you need to be?