Caught up?

Get this amazing and magical thing: I am almost all caught up with work! This hasn't happened in, well, years.

I'm so excited I can barely contain myself. This entire weekend I did not go in the office once nor did I feel any need to. Again, insane!

This is my little work notebook. I survive by this and take it everywhere with me---almost comically so.

So, my new goals:

1. Do not get behind again!
2. Do not get behind again!
3. Find out what in the h-e-double-l I'm going to do with myself with all this free time.

First of all, now that I'm healing I honestly believe that hurting my knee has allowed me to get caught up---with life, really. As much as I hated being sedentary, when I go to the gym now I actually feel stronger. My muscles have finally gotten the rest they've been begging for. I can concentrate better at work. Before, when I played two soccer games on Tuesday nights it meant that I was absolutely useless on Wednesdays at the office. I couldn't think. I was exhausted all the time.

So now is the hardest part: BALANCE. I honestly believe that this doesn't actually exist, but I'm going to try. Balance with work, an active life, and myself.

This leads to the question: Do I dive back into all my soccer teams again? Do I get into new hobbies? I miss soccer. I miss the people even more. The problem, though, is that I don't have a mental stop light. I can't say "No." One team leads to three more invitations and I soon find myself in over my head. So this is what I am hoping to do: Continue with only a team or two, but also pursue other things. I don't like being bored, I hate watching tv all night even more, so we'll see how long this lasts.

In my newfound freedom, guess what I did this weekend? First of all I helped my friend Emily who just broke her foot. Poor girl!! I helped her by taking her out for food and eating all the junk food we could get our hands on. I mean really, what else are friends for?

I also cooked! As with all my cooking, it was an adventure. I made the Pioneer Woman's Pot Roast and Apple Pie from her new cookbook.

The roast turned out A-MAZ-ING. And it was surprisingly easy. Pictures!

Just out of the oven.

Pot roast with roasted veggies and brown rice. Yum!

The apple pie was a different story. First of all, it all seemed to come together just fine but I didn't think to put it on aluminum foil because, well, the directions didn't tell me too. I'm very literal with recipes. I don't veer off course unless I miss a step or just do it wrong (which is common). So, the filling inside the pie proceeded to drip out of the crust and collect on the pan. Okay, whatever, but when I pulled the pie out and cooled everything off, the drippings literally carmelized/candied on the pan! It was impossible to get off!

Trying to soak my carmel-coated pan.

Chefs and foodies, cover your eyes: I had to take a metal knife and scrape the filling off my non-stick pan. Yes, very painful but there was no way around it! A brillo pad was worthless. So, lesson learned: Aluminum foil is my friend.

Continuing the debacle, when I tried to get the pie off the pan it turned more into an apple crumble. Hmm... maybe because all the filling to hold it together had dripped out? I can't be too sure. Luckily it was all still very yummy (whew!). Perfect with vanilla ice cream.

Apple pie/crumble.

The good news: Everything I do is a learning process. The bad news: I know nothing.

Luckily, two men are ooh-ing, ahh-ing, and groaning as they are eating my pot roast right this very second. Three votes for the roast. Hurrah!