A blessing in disguise?

This week I've been kind of tired and having a hard time feeling "caught up" since I had such a busy weekend last week.  I think I've technically gotten everything back to its usual order (except ohmygosh do I need to clean my floors!), but I still just can't get out of that funk.  Do you ever have that problem?  When I don't have any time to just chill at home on the weekends, I feel like it takes me two weeks to get back to normal.

Anyway, I've been forcing myself to do the stuff I know I should be doing, even though I haven't felt like it.  On Tuesday night, Matt and I went grocery shopping for the week.  We were both starving and we didn't really feel like cooking.  We went through our usual go-to's that are in the house--veggie burgers, ravioli, pasta with homemade frozen meatballs-- but none of it really seemed appealing.  I was thisclose to pulling the "can we just grab pizza?" card, when I decided what we should really have was salmon!  

If you know me, this is a weird thing for me to decide.  I have played a pretty tough nothing-that-swims diet since childhood, but I think I may be a convert after all, because I actually craved seafood.  We bought some mustard and brown sugar marinated wild-caught salmon from the fish counter to grill on the Foreman, roasted some asparagus, and made some 5 minute whole-wheat couscous.

Faster and much healthier than any takeout!

The whole meal came together in about 15 minutes, which is less time than we would have waited to get pizza and I really felt better about eating this.  Also, that mustard and brown sugar marinade was awesome!  Must remember for future dinners.   

I made another Green Monster yesterday and it was even better than the day before!  I decided that for me, I need to have the banana fresh, not frozen.  It adds a creaminess I just love.  This monster was so delish, but I had to quit half way through because I was SO FULL.  I poured the rest into an air tight drink container and put it in the fridge overnight.  I finished it this morning--and I have to tell you--it was even better after sitting over night!  Maybe the oats soaked up extra milk or the ingredients got to know each other better--whatever, I don't care what the reason was, it was so good!

Then, I set my trusty pal, The Crock Pot, to make my dinner for me while I went to work.  Today that little beauty made me Slow Cooker Coconut Chicken Curry.  Oh.  My.  God.  I can't even express how good this was!  I used chicken leg-thigh pieces because that's what I had from our Meat CSA.  The meat was tender and juicy and the sauce was an amazing consistency.  The original poster of the recipe noted that she is not much of a sauce person, but she had drenched her rice in this sauce.  Well I totally AM a sauce person and I went back for seconds... and thirds... of sauce to cover my rice. No grain of rice left behind!  Yum.  I will totally be making this frequently.

The dishes are done, I made lunches for tomorrow (I made myself a salad of 50/ 50 blend, dried figs, a little ham, and some toasted pecans with a mustard vinaigrette.  I'm really excited to eat it tomorrow!), my face is washed, and my teeth are brushed and flossed, so I'm hangin' on the couch watching The Wonder Years.  

Now for the part that goes with the title of this entry.  Today, I was having a totally normal, casual conversation with my boss when he suddenly told me that he's having trouble finding money to continue funding my position.  I did know that my position was technically a one year appointment (I started in March), but he has previously seemed pretty optimistic that he would find funding to continue to pay me.  It seems that may have changed.  So, while I have a position until at least late February/ March, I probably need to find something new.

Why is this possibly a blessing in disguise?  Well, I don't really want to be a scientist.  I've known this for awhile and definitely knew that before I started this position.  I have actually been looking for a new job since I started this one, but I haven't had any bites yet.  Now that I have my boss's blessing to look for jobs and use him as a reference, I feel more confident about applying to more jobs.  I still have this feeling of "wait-you-don't-break-up-with-me,I-break-up-with-you!" but at the very least, I appreciate that he didn't walk in one way and tell me my time had run out and instead gave me some warning.

I don't want to end on a negative note, so I'll say that I have found some jobs I am pretty interested in and I am hopeful that this will be the break I've been waiting for.  Until next time!