I made this recipe last night for dinner. I really enjoyed it as a simple meal, not heavy, and the polenta was a nice complement to the pork. I did make a mistake and bought the wrong sort of pork chops, but it still worked out well.
I didn’t take any pictures, but you can see a picture on the recipe. I will make it again.
Something I learned: polenta is basically grits. As a southern girl…well, you know I love grits!
I had a great time listening to tonight’s Saint Louis Symphony concert. Well, listening and watching. Schubert’s 2nd Symphony, Shostakovich 2nd Piano Concerto, and Beethoven’s 7th Symphony. Fabulous!
Great day overall (gym, lunch with Melissa, shopping, which included getting running tights at Target, and dessert/drinks at Franco with Chris), but I’m tired now and going to bed. Tomorrow I get to sleep in, then run, two gigs, and hang out with my friend Sarah. Fabulous 🙂
I started reading “Free For All: Fixing School Lunch in America” by Janet Poppendieck last night. It’s VERY nice to be reading something other than “War and Peace” (sorry, Tolstoy). It’s got a lot of numbers, but it’s still a relief to be free of Napoleon (and frankly, after Prince Andrew died, I just didn’t care anymore. ) I generally read fiction, but it’s nice to read non-fiction on occasion, plus I do genuinely enjoy learning new things and knowing they are true, unlike fiction where you read new things that might actually be historically accurate but you just aren’t sure (yes, I’m again referring to War and Peace. Damn you, Tolstoy!)
Wow, that’s a lot for one day! To be fair, I only taught 16. Two were sick.
I had a great time teaching today though. I took it one student at a time. It was fine, only I needed more water.
I finished “War and Peace.” I can’t believe I spent almost three weeks reading one book. I don’t even know what happened. Well, I DO. *SPOILER ALERT* It was the war of 1812…I kept thinking about Tchaikovsky’s 1812 Overture! Lots of Napoleon, Alexander, and a few Russian families falling in love or dying. Seriously, Tolstoy. Could the book have been edited a bit shorter? (And I usually love long books!)
After such a long day, I wasn’t in the mood for cooking, so Chris and I decided to go to Dressel’s for dinner. I had a glass of wine and the beef stew with salad, which was very good. I always enjoy Dressel’s.
Tomorrow is fun Friday (most Fridays are fun Fridays!). Gym with Mike, lunch with Melissa, cook dinner (planning on a new recipe from Cooking Light magazine), attend the SLSO concert, and drinks with friends afterwards (hopefully). I’m not quite sure how my “days off” become so busy, as I seriously need to do some housecleaning. The weekend should allow for that though…
May I apologize for this slightly boring post…but it beats yesterday’s whiny ones, right? RIGHT? (foot feeling better, wrist…we’ll see).
I’m feeling old and whiny tonight. I’m tired, I am still annoyed at this morning’s classes, and I have some aches and pains.
My wrist still hurts and now I have a bit of a blister on the bottom of my foot from today’s run.
Foot: I’m thinking either I need to retire my blue Mizuno shoes OR switch to a different sock. I have been wearing cotton (the horrors!) socks, and I noticed today’s pair was a bit stretched out as well, but I couldn’t do anything about it as I was changing at the gym. I have a few pairs of synthetic socks, but I’m not a huge fan of any I have as they seem to slide around. Maybe I should keep trying. Suggestions? As far as the shoes go, I have another pair. I also plan to take my old shoes back to the running store and make sure my shoe is still the best one for me—my feet were pretty sore by the end of the half-marathon, but that’s probably normal, right?
Wrist: I don’t know why it’s bothering me now…I haven’t been playing {violin} enough to cause problems.
I have a history of problems with this wrist, starting back in, oh, 1991? And on and off, ever since, particularly freshman year of college and while I was in the Charlotte Symphony. I’ve been diagnosed with bursitis, tendonitis, and general overuse. Violin playing (for me, and many others) is fraught with injuries. My right wrist is my biggest weakness, though by no means my only trouble zone.
However, I haven’t had any real problems with this wrist in several years, so I hadn’t thought about it until the other week when I woke up with pain in my wrist. I thought maybe I had slept on it funny, so I ignored it for a few days. I don’t know what caused it, but I do know what I should do.
Rest. I’ll just have to be extra careful for a few weeks, at least. That probably means no burpees. OH NO! (burpees are a torturous move incorporating an up-down, push-up, and a jump. Mike loves them. That is, he loves making me do them. I can’t speak for his own workout regime.) Stupid weak wrists. I’ve also slept in my wrist brace for two nights, and I’ll continue that again tonight and probably for a few more days or longer.
Lucky I “just” teach now, and don’t have to play violin for a living. 
Small victories, right?
I am not doing well today with patience. I lost my temper (well, in a child friendly way) two to three times during my morning classes. I was TRYING to do something nice and play games—we played “Violin hangman” and I even added a true element of randomness to it by having the students draw for a song and then roll the dice to determine which line of the song to play. It makes a nice challenge, having to start in the middle of the song rather than the beginning. (What happens is, they do this, then get to choose a letter for the hangman game.) But I asked them to follow one rule: when somebody is playing, everybody must listen. Evidently this was too difficult. GAH! Group classes are starting to drive me insane. I see so much I could address with each child on a one-to-one basis…but that’s just not possible in this setting. And as I’ve mentioned before, my discipline skills are sorely lacking.
I did manage to run 5 miles at the gym—I am working on my speed, so I was doing intervals of running/walking, but running much faster than I ordinarily would. I believe I ran out my frustrations and I am now ready to face my later students. At least there are no more group classes this week.
And I feel that having patience is one of my strong suits and helps me to be a good violin teacher. I guess everybody gets a bad day? I’m feeling like I really failed my morning classes…but maybe I just need to be clearer about the rules OR be more relaxed about them to myself. I am not being consistent enough with the students and I probably confuse them.
Some of the students did play really well! So that’s good. Maybe I’m not a total failure in the class setting 
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Music stand (Tower Grove Park) in the snow
While driving to work today, I was thinking about different kinds of friends.
In a somewhat unparticular order, but a little bit particular:
Work friends: this is different than colleagues. Colleagues refers to everybody, work friends are those people you always chitchat with at work, but would be unlikely to hang out with anywhere else. This idea can extend further, for instance, coffee shop friends and gym friends, though perhaps to a lesser degree, as you might spend less time in those places (unless you are like me, and spend many hours per week at the gym!)
Old friends: Friends from previous times in your life. I generally keep in touch with these people via Facebook, as I have moved quite a few times in my life. Many old friends might be great friends if we lived in the same city, others are from a time and place in the past and would not be so close even if the distance didn’t exist.
Old friends are slightly different than College friends, though there is a fair degree of overlap. It just depends on when we met.
Lunch friends: Often these are work friends who you are trying to become better friends with. You meet for lunch, or perhaps coffee, OUTSIDE of work. (For me, most people start as work friends—when you work in a million different places, you meet a lot of people!)
Occasional friends: People who are busy but when you get together you have a great time. Maybe you only see them a couple times a year…and neither of you makes enough effort to get together more often. Perhaps you were good friends at one time, perhaps you were only lunch friends or work friends.
Good friends: These are people that you see weekly, or at least try to. You share quite a bit about yourself. You meet for drinks or dinner, or have them over to your place. You know when they go on vacation, you might even take care of their pet.
Best friends: People that you can call any time, for any reason. That you don’t have to clean your house for. Because you are no longer trying to impress or fake it for them, you are simply you and they are your friend despite that.
Parting thoughts: the older I get, the harder it is to make new friends. After I first moved to St. Louis, I would be exhausted from trying to get to know people and let them get to know me. It really is a lot of effort! I figure we’ll end up moving again as soon as I have a few really good friends.
That’s sad, isn’t it? I didn’t mean it to be. Just thinking out loud here! GOOD DAY!
(unrelated, but delightful!)