Tonight

I made 3 dozen Chocolate Drop Cookies with Heath Bars, Vanilla Chips, and Pecans. I started mixing in all the goodness of this recipe. I did the dutiful licking of the mixer thingy’s that pop into the electric hand mixer. I wiped my lips, washed my hands, went to grab my spoons to drop the gooey yumminess of my homemade cookies for our work’s cookie swap (my idea, thankyouverymuch) when I thought…hmmm…these don’t seem so chocolatey. In fact, they seem so lumpy with all the chips, nuts, and candy bits. I was slightly annoyed. I’m a lover of chocolate, the brown stuff, fudge…YUM! This is when I realized that I hadn’t mixed the dry ingredients with the moist. And boy, was I in HEAVEN when the two were mixed. Bub came in and this time it was he who licked the mixer thingy’s (don’t worry, I washed them clean after the first round of licks).

Fast forward 1/2 hour later, I have a sweet-smelling kitchen and we’re off to the gym. Great workout: 2-mile run, lots of stretching (which I always neglect), good ab moves–even the hard ones–all while Bub played pick-up soccer downstairs. I could see him through the window. They wore “pennys” like you did when you were in gym class at elementary school. And I remember them being all sweaty. And I hated wearing them. But seeing Bub wear one brought me back to feeling like a kid–I remember kickball–and how fun and easy it was to be young(er), even though it was so “hard” back then…or so we thought. Seeing Bub blocking the opponent from scoring made me feel the anxiousness of who was going to come into contact with me during gym class–and how I could slip into the sea of kids and not be called out. I liked it better that way. Just blend in and I won’t have to call any attention to myself, the shy girl…

Anyway, the cookies are packed away. There are even some for Bub to take to work. This time tomorrow I’ll have an assortment of yummy cookies to devour…if only I could be so sure of my gym schedule.

I stayed in bed just a little longer this morning not because I had too many drinks last night or because I didn’t want to realize the little headache I had might be bigger. I just laid around because I could.

I just finished my Trader Joe’s chocolate yogurt. They call it something like “cocoa” whatever but to me it’s the closest thing to a dessert one can have while it’s still breakfast.

Bub gets into the politics shows on Sunday morning, while I prefer to get myself ready for the gym. We finally settled on one to join. I had been going to an all-women facility which was clean, user-friendly and not that bad distance wise, although the parking was sometimes annoying. But I missed the days when Bub and I used to hit the gym and work out at the same time sometimes copying each other on the machines. We’d separate and I’d do an elliptical while he ran and then if he finished first he’d come to my machine and start moving on the one next to me. And vice versa. We’d count out reps for one another while doing weights. But most times we’d do our own thing and give each other the nod or hand to show we’re just about ready to get the heck out of there!

So we are newly joined members of our local Y. We joined for a month at another gym which had been built up by Bub’s friend as a great facility. It was more than my last membership at the all-women’s gym! The locker rooms were scary and we kept asking each other: Just why is this gym so much money? Clearly it’s not because they’re upgrading their old TVs, locker rooms, or anything like that.

So the almost new Y will work just fine for us. When we were signing the family plan paperwork yesterday I couldn’t help but think how weird timing is sometimes; I have this suspicious feeling that we’ll find a house and move and have to find another gym whose locker rooms we’ll need to inspect.

And so I’m getting ready to put my gym clothes on–or should I begin to search the open house listings? Either way, I’m watching channel 2. Rick Steves is on talking about Positano, Capri, Sorrento–the Amalfi Coast, better known as the paradise we visited after we said “I do”…

And as I look outside at the drizzly day I wonder how we are so far both literally and figuratively from a life that people live daily amidst beauty and of course, the most delicious food.

Happy 2nd half of the weekend.