Numerology

Like I've already said, there was a lot going on last week! It was nice having my mom and step dad around for an extended visit. They're both so handy and did numerous things around our house. I already spoke of my mom's cooking. But to show you just how much they did, here's a wrap up of their visit by the numbers!

31 degrees was the average temperature last week

24 deck screws used by my step dad to secure steps on our deck

20 hand/toe warmers used by all three of us on inauguration day

18 bags of leaves raked up by my step dad

14 Obama souvenirs purchased by my mom

8 light bulbs changed (inside and out) by my step dad

6-7 (approximate) miles walked on Inauguration Day

5 pounds of butter (that's 20 sticks, people!!!) cooked by my mom and consumed by us all!

4 trips to the grocery store

3 articles of clothing mended by my mom

2 monuments visited

1 new garden hose caddy installed by my step dad

My parents did so many things to help us out around our house last week. It sounds like we were apparently living in a dark, run-down place, covered in leaves! It's really a nice house, I swear! We can't thank them enough for everything they did. They said they had "fun" trip...I guess your definition of "fun" changes as you get older??? Just Kidding! Hopefully they'll come back for more "fun" soon!

Comfort Food

Last week was a big week. My parents were visiting for the Inauguration and we stayed busy! The feature of the week around my house was my mom's cooking. She's a true southern cook and no matter how many roommates and friends were around to eat with us, we never ran out of food. And as the week went on and the word got out, the fuller our dinning room became!



Here's a sampling of why our tummies were so happy all last week!


Monday
Breakfast- Eggs, Bacon, Grits, Toast
Lunch- Homemade Chicken Salad Sandwiches
Dinner- Spinach and Feta stuffed Chicken, Rice, Salad, cornbread

Tuesday
Breakfast- Oatmeal (This is a new favorite recipe of my mom's. You cook the oatmeal overnight in a crockpot with apple juice and add walnuts, apples, and cinnamon in the morning.)
Dinner- Homemade Potato Soup, side of sauteed candied sweet potatoes

Wednesday
Dinner- Homemade Chicken and Dumplins

Thursday
Dinner- Roast Beef, Carrots, Potatoes, Rice-a-roni, salad, homemade cheese biscuits

Friday
Dinner- Shrimp and Grits, Asparagus, Salad, bread, Cantelope, Chinese doughnuts


I'm amazed that something so natural to me growing up, like eating this type of homemade food, is not so natural for other people! The question kept coming up- "Becky, how are you not fat if you ate like this all of your life?"

It's an interesting question because ironically enough, I didn't start gaining weight until I moved to DC and started eating sushi, veggie burgers, and hummus, and drinking diet coke. How does this make any sense???



My guess is for one, we never had soda growing up. I only drank sweet tea. I think diet drinks make you fat. Plus, tea is just flavored water, right? The next reason may be that the rich southern food actually satisfies me, so I never snacked in between meals.



So as I plan to have a re-do of my New Year, I'm thinking of scratching all the healthy eating crap, and going back to my roots.

Welcome to Washington, President Obama!

What a day! Unless you live under a rock, you've probably had your fill of Inauguration Day news. All eyes have been on Washington, my hometown (term used loosely), the last few days. I have to admit that I was undecided about making the journey into the city to be a part of everything in person. The excitement built, my parents are visiting, we decided to go. I had 4 layers of shirts, 3 layers on the bottom, 2 layers on the feet, plus a long heavy jacket, warm boots, 2 scarves, 2 pair of gloves, 2 hats and a partridge in a pear tree.

I know, I know....I didn't feel pretty either.

We had an early and rough start to the day. I live just close enough that officials recommended walking in to downtown, but just far enough to make it a loooooong walk. So we decided to take our chances on the closest metro station to get us closer. That was mistake #1. So many people, trains packed like sardines, and technical difficulties.

On to Plan B.

We started walking in hopes of finding a cab to get us as close to Memorial Bridge as possible. Have I ever mentioned how useless cabbies are and how much I hate them? Well, I do. Mr. Cab Driver #1 told us he couldn't go on any of the necessary roads. This later turned out to be totally false.

On to Plan C (a hail Mary if you will)....walk. Policeman #1 told us we could proceed on road. So we walk. Policeman #2 tells us we can't proceed on road. We almost give up. (The temperature was around 20 degrees and the wind chill was lower than that. Oh, and in case you forgot, we're from the south and aren't used to this type of cold.)

Long story short, Mr. Cab Driver #2 (aka gift from God) comes along to save us, drives us into DC. We get dropped off near the National's stadium and we do what we came to do best today: WALK. We walked, and walked, and walked, and walked some more. We walked alongside what seemed like the entire continental United States.

We were walking for about a total of 3 hours before we settled in the shadows beneath the Washington Monument. We were literally right in the middle of the National Mall. We had an okay view of a jumbotron and were able to hear and see all the action.

I've been an Obama fan and supporter since he first came on the scene. I literally got chills when I heard Obama's speech at the 2004 Democratic Convention. Chills again when hearing his speeches on the (very long) campaign trail. Major chills when he secured the democratic nomination. Even more chills when he won the election last November. So you can imagine that it wasn't just the cold weather that gave me chills when he took the oath of office today and made history.

Back to our story....Even though we couldn't feel our feet, we had no choice but to (you guessed it) start WALKING. We started walking in the direction of Virginia, knowing we had to walk the entire length of the Mall, across the Memorial Bridge (over an iced over river), to grandmother's house we go....

We finally made it to Arlington Cemetery, took the metro back to my house, and finally- collapsed. (And thawed out- our piles of clothes looked liked we were actually melted snowmen!)


I may not be able to move tomorrow, but I'm pretty sure we'd do it all over again to experience what we did. It was striking to me, that even though the masses of people had to walk our little heads off in subfreezing temperatures, the spirit and mood was joyous, friendly, kind, and courteous. Everything was sunny and bright. Things are definitely ch-ch-ch-changing in our nation's capital, and hopefully the nation.

The walk was long, but worth every single step.

Doldrums

It's been a busy week, so blogging has been on the back burner.


Inauguration! The excitement of the Inauguration is building here in DC. There is a sea of porta potties on the Mall, fencing everywhere, and traffic is getting worse by the day. I'm trying to brace myself for the saturation of people that will be coming. It will certainly be interesting getting around with the road closures and crowds, but I'm definitely looking forward to the 4 day weekend and all of the festivities!


Music Coming Soon! I just wanted to warn you that I'm adding a short playlist to the blog. So beware if you open up my page at work or school! You'll be able to turn it off if you don't like it, but it will start automatically when the blog comes up.

New Year's Take 2! I'm thinking about having a New Year's re-do. There are so many things I needed and wanted to do to get organized and ready for 2009 that just didn't happen! I already feel behind....I mean, I JUST bought a new planner for 2009 this week. I know it's bad when I'm a week behind on my TV shows of all things! Maybe I'll start my New Year next week after the long weekend hopefully gives me a chance to catch up! Or maybe I'll start it on my birthday in a few weeks. It's true southern tradition to take your time and be a little slower than the rest of the world. So it's perfectly okay for me to start 2009 a few weeks late, right?

I did a few things last week- like planned out meals, bought healthy snacks, and went to the gym a total of 2 times. But this week, the winter doldrums have taken up root in my life. When the wind chill is 8 degrees (as it is right this second), my natural southern inclination is to hibernate and eat. And that's exactly what I've done this week! Anyone else feeling the winter blues?

According to some researchers, the most depressing day of the year, which they refer to as "Blue Monday," is coming up next week! So brace yourself!