Crack-infused butternut squash

As you know, I get a CSA box. This recipe was in an email we received. We didn’t get butternut squash, but I had one (just laying around, ya know?).

Spicy Honey Butternut Squash

Preheat grill or oven to 350 degrees. You’ll be using indirect heat on the grill. Wash butternut squash with skin on (you’ll eat the skin). Cut in half lengthwise. Slice each half into 3 pieces (2 cuts) lengthwise so that you have 6 wedges total. Baste squash with olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Grill skin side down at 350 for 30 minutes or bake skin side down for 30 minutes. Next you’ll grill each cut side for 7 to 8 minutes. You can use an indoor grill if you chose to bake it. While this is cooking you’ll prepare the honey butter.

4 Tbs butter

1 Tbs honey

1/2 tsp Tabasco or chili sauce (more if you want more heat)

1/2 tsp chili powder

Mix together with a fork. Baste onto squash just before serving. Laddle a little extra honey butter as you serve it. Finish with a squeeze of lime.

I used unsalted REAL butter. It says you can eat the skin, but I didn’t. I did it in the oven and I think it would have been better had I cooked it longer. But I have to say the honey-chili thing was amazing!! (I used cock sauce since I have it and I love it) and it was perfect. I put the butternut away, and scraped the juices into the tupperware, but kept licking the spoon. OMG, I can put this on anything. It’s awesome.  All the sweet and spicy all together.

Today’s Cinco

1. What did you last replace batteries for?
2. What have you thrown away that you probably could have had repaired?
3. Among items in your line of sight right now, what should probably be put in the trash?
4. When did you last use disposable cutlery while dining in your house?
5. Whose actions cause you to waste time you otherwise wouldn’t waste?

1. I use rechargable as much as possible. Most of the things in my house are now on rechargable batteries. I think the last thing was for a remote, probably the tuner.

2. I’m sure there’s something out there I could have had repaired. Nothing that I can think of right now, though.

3. I’ve got a lot of books, magazines and cookbooks in my line of sight. I LOVE cookbooks and I like to keep books so I’m sure some of those magazines can go in the trash–but not just yet. I’m not quite done with them yet.

4. I NEVER use disposable cutlery in my own house. I’ve gone for take-out and if they give me disposable stuff, I keep it to take to work or have around. In my own house, I much prefer the “silver.”

5. Whose actions cause me to waste time I wouldn’t otherwise waste? That’s a weird question. … There was a woman I worked with last year who talked and talked and talked, often about nothing that was of relevance to me. That’d be one.  Strangers–people in line who take too much time, people in the store who take up space? I don’t know… this is an odd question.

I’m not a good team builder

This is my fourth year as a team leader. I understand the important dynamics of a team, of respecting one another, of trusting one another.  Rules and expectations need to be set. I get that.

I (what’s the opposite of looked forward??) ________ed today’s “Team Building Activities [that] required appropriate dress and tennis shoes.” (Really? I mean, really?)

I’ve done a million of those things. (Watch out, Negative Nelly has taken over). The Human Knot? I’ve participated in and led that a bajillion times.  One person blind-folded, everyone mute, and various other handicaps.

Put a name on your back–shhh, it’s a secret!–let’s play who am I? Wooo…it’ll be fun.

The Hula-Hoop pass? Yup. Done that. That one where you hold hands and have to pass the hula hoop from one end of the line to the other? Yeah, that one. Sometimes, if you’re really good, your group gets 2 (!!) Hula Hoops to deal with.

Talking, not talking, blind-folded, the outgoing can’t talk, the introverts have to lead. What did we see? What happened? Why did we do this? Why did you say that?  How does this relate to _________? (our relationship with each other, with The Church, with our students–you fill in the blank).  I guess my former jobs have all led to these activities–youth director, camp counselor, day camp director, teacher, grocery bagger… (Heh–just seeing if you were paying attention!).  I think I forget that other people haven’t been privy to such things.

Maybe because I’ve had to do them.  Maybe it’s because I’ve led them. Maybe because I know the point of them. Maybe because I know what the outcome will be. Maybe because the introvert in me comes out when all the strong personalities freak out about not being able to get the marble across the gym without touching it. (BTW, people, it’s just a game!) But maybe that’s the non-competitive person in me. It’s okay if our team doesn’t get unwrapped first.  I don’t have a loud enough voice (seriously, it registers on a different level for some people). And some are coaches. And some are just loud. I get lost. I get tired of fighting for the stage.

So I guess the good news was that we only had to do one of these today. I was going into it with a bad attitude. Turns out I didn’t need to. But those days we do have those team-building things, you better believe the “introverted I’ve done these all before” in me will come out.  I’ll let you play, I’ll let you figure it out. But I already get it.

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Side bar: Now, I don’t want to give off the impression that I know it all. Surely I don’t. I think it’s just the competitiveness gets on my nerves. The freaking out of not winning. The inability to see things how they’re supposed to be seen. The doing the same things I’ve done before. They can be good. They can be beneficial (you see me back-peddling?!). I think part of me is just not ready to be around people constantly again.

Maybe I just need a writing intervention or something.

ETA: These activities can be really aweseome. They work really well. For people who haven’t seen them before.

What is wrong with me today?

I got to leave work right at 4:00 (yay for no Children!). I went home, but didn’t park in the garage on purpose. I changed into my gym clothes, rested a bit and went to the 5:30 class.

Maybe I should back up… My first “What is wrong with me” thing. I was really hungry today (and before you make your pregnant jokes, shut up). I’m always hungry at lunch time. I didn’t get my snack today, so was super hungry. I forgot my lunch at home (not in that routine yet!), but JB drove me over to see my casa and to chill a bit.

Then, about 3:00 or so, I got super hungry again. Luckily I had some microwave popcorn in my bag (do you know how much better the air popped stuff is??! I mean, I knew that, but having air popped yesterday and that today…wow) so I popped that up. When I did come home, I had a bit of cheese to help the hunger.

Then at my class, I was so tired. The class was exhausting to me. Like I was supr tired before we really even got going. i think this led to me being distracted. Or me being distracted led to me not getting as much out of it. I even left early. I stayed for all the cardio stuff, but then left early.

Came home, and of course was hungry. So I ate some delicious stir fry. I did a pretty good job, if I do say so myself. (The sauce was a combo of a lot of things…you may not want to ask).

And it’s not like I really DID anything today. We did a lot of sitting around. But maybe it was just using brain power. And walking farther than from my couch to the fridge to the bed.

Tomorrow I’ll be better armed with snacks. And maybe my question of “what is wrong with me today?” won’t have to do with hunger issues.

In other news…

It took me 16 minutes to get to work; 14 to get home.

That’s a nice commute time.

Big case of the “don’t wannas”

I think it was three years ago that I was really excited to get back to school. I went in early (I had a special helper go with me) and got things set up. I cut and pasted and colored a few things. I thought about desk placement and where this shelf should go and where I could put that file cabinet.

I don’t remember last year (if I was super excited or not).

I greet this year with mixed feelings. We hate change. We don’t like things to be different. BUT, last year was so bad. The kids were bad, we stopped caring, we didn’t feel supported… and it was a vicious cycle.

This year will be very different in a lot of ways. I think they will be good. Or I’m trying to stay positive and optimistic about it. I think these changes will be good.

I have to go to school today. Only a half day, but I do have to go. Wednesday, we go in “balls to the wall” as they say (or as I like to say).  I think a year or two ago, I would have gone early. Not this year. I don’t want to be there one minute more than i have to be.

So, while I’m trying to stay optimistic, I still am feeling a lot or resistance from within. I mean, seriously… I have to leave in a few minutes and here I am blogging away.

Ask me what I’m wearing today… I’m wearing fleece-like pants, a tank-top and flip-flops. Not exactly “business” type dress. But really, I’m still so much in summer mode that it’s all I can do.

And, also, I’ve gained weight this summer, so my good butt jeans are a bit tight. So I have to go with the stretchy pants. But whatever. They’re so comfy. And I’m getting there. I’m getting myself to school so I should get some credit for that.

Here’s hoping.

First Charlie the Unicorn…

…Now Christian the Lion.

Have you seen this yet? I dare you to watch it without feeling some sort of emotion. Maybe even tear up a bit.  Thanks, Nic, for sending it on.

I’ve gotten so lazy….

…. that I wish Sonic delivered.

Or that someone brought me a diet strawberry limeade.

Let Me Hear Your Body Talk

Here we go… Friday Five on Friday

And let me just say I’m going easy. I’ve started a couple others, but they’ve been too mind-swallowing to do and besides, it’s still summer.

1. What does your body tell you when you get out of bed in the morning?
2. How well do you treat your body? Do you feed and exercise it well? Go for regular check-ups?
3. What part of your body feels strongest?
4. Which is the weakest?
5. If you had to live without the use of one body part for the rest of your life, which would it be? Why?

1. What does my body tell me? Depends… If it’s a “sleep-in” day, my eyes wonder why it’s so bright. Usually my bladder is screaming loud enough to make me get up before I can think too much about it. My waking mind tries to recapture the dreams I may have had; it tries to repeat the dream so it’s more in my conscious mind so I can look up all the symbols later.

2. I’m fairy good to my body. I don’t smoke. I drink, but not to excess that much. (But sometimes, yes, to excess). I don’t use Q-Tips that much because they can puncture your ear drum.  When working, I exercise 2 or more times a week, usually a cardio class. I get my annual check up once a year (duh, annual, once a year). I’ve never done a mammogram, but should. I see the dentist twice a year (unfortunately, sometimes more). I recently got moles checked; I recently had my eyes checked. I try to eat at least partially healthily most of the time.

3. Body part that feels the strongest? I have big biceps for who and what I am. If we’re talking only physically, I’d say that. Not sure how much I can actually do with them, though.

4. My right ankle is the weakest. It’s the one I had surgery on. It’s weak at times and it just looks weird. Sometimes it goes out on me.  I don’t want to hate any part of my body, but I really dislike it.

5. I always hate this question. I see that it gets easier to live w/o an arm. But I’m just getting into knitting again so much that I don’t want to have to give that up.  Maybe a foot, if I could still do exercises besides running or walking.  Maybe one eye, so I’d have a lazy eye and freak the kids out. I could tell them that i’m a bruja and that I can put spells on them if they’re not quiet.

Random YouTube of the day

I’m watching an old Ellen (“Tomorrow your taxes are due.”). But she showed this, and it made me laugh. Especially that it happened twice.