Simply Complicated.

It is October 6th as I write this post (and October 10th as I finish it!).  Part of why I've been remiss about blogging is that I was at a loss about what to say.  But apparently, right now I'm chock full of ideas, so I thought I'd share.

It's almost midterm.  I am starting to enter the realm of losing my grip on my sanity.  It's that point where, despite my best effots and intentions at the beginning of the semester, I'm working later, more weekends, and ditching exercise in favor of more work.  Or more sleep.  Or 10 minutes on the couch. To put it in perspective though, I'm losing my grip a lot later than I did last year.  I think I startted last fall with NO grip.  So taking 8 weeks to lose my zen isn't too bad.

But, I don't want to lose my zen.  And that's when decided that I was going to take on a project of sorts for the rest of the semester.  You can join me too, if you want.  I'm going to simplify my life.  This is a big undertaking for me.  I'm not simple.  I like tech toys, I love email, I love facebook, I love condiments, I love STUFF.  But I'm going to try.  Now, I have had periods where I do a massive closet clean.  I've given every pair of shoes to Goodwill that I haven't worn in a while before.  I've gotten rid of this and that, particularly with clothes.  Guess what?  Almost every time, it's come back to bite me.  My MIL loves this kind of stuff.  She's forever cleaning her FB friends list, advising people to get rid of things, and advocating cleaning out closets.  So while her advice regarding decluttering normally would fall right in line, I just can't do it.  I gave away a pair of knee-high boots that I hadn't worn in forever.  Some time later, I bought a cute knee length dress to wear to a Christmas party that everyone agreed would look great with boots.  I realized the night of the party that I didn't actually own knee boots any more.  Oops.  I discovered this week that I wanted to give my maternity sweaters to my SIL.  Except that in a fit of closet cleaning, I gave them to Goodwill, sure that no one would ever need them, especially me.  So, I'm not sure that getting rid of stuff entirely will happen, but we'll see.  After all, you never know when you might need a maternity sweater or a great pair of boots.

So, if I'm going to tackle this, let's start with #1 on the list - eat simple.  This week has been the WORST nutritionally speaking, since grad school, my written comps, and Kevin's and my afternoon of scientific doughnuts.  I hosted a dinner for our seminar speaker last night.  Monday night I got home around midnight.  I had to work Tuesday and Wednesday, so every second I wasn't at work, I was cooking like a demon and cleaning my house (the dinner was great, BTW).  Yesterday, I literally forgot to eat breakfast (I NEVER forget to eat!!), then because I needed my lunch hour to finish cleaning, I ate a cheese stick and a packet of Emerald Breakfast to Go, or as I told a friend "pea gravel."  I guess that's simple, but I'm pretty sure that's not what the author of that post had in mind.  Oh yeah, dinner the night before was simple too - Ian refused to eat what I fixed him and we wound up sampling cookie dough, some cream cheese frosting, and a homemade roll.  Again, simple, but not good.

So, my take on simple is that I'm going to try to serve fewer courses during meals.  A lot of side dishes have enough protein without adding another protein (like mac and cheese if you make it with cottage cheese instead of butter) or veggies can have lentils or beans added for protein without having a whole separate dish.  Like I said, this is my take.  A lot of people would view simple eating as eating without a lot of condiments and sauces, but honestly, I view food as a substrate for condiments.  I LOVE spices.  So, I'm simplifying my meals to have fewer components, but those components won't necessarily be simpler in flavor - see what I mean by simply complicated?

My hope is that every few days or at least once a week, I'll give you an update on what I'm up to with this project.  I'm sure some things on the list will be easier than others.  I have made progress on one thing already - I'm going to bike simple.  I took off my clipless pedals and took my mom's advice.  She told me that I wasn't coordinated enough for them.  She's probably right - moms simply are most of the time.