Working Girl

No, no, no, not THAT kind of working girl.  I am a wife, mother and a full time employee of a large, unwieldy corporation.  I know I haven't posted in a while but I've been busy.  Luckily for me, I work from home or as some call it "virtual office."  I wish I were "virtually working."  I still have meetings and deadlines and such but I take care of those things with the aid of a laptop and a cell phone, no cube-farm environment required.  This is both good and bad.

It is good because my schedule is a little more flexible.  I work on the west coast but my office is on the east coast.  I have only met my current boss once and he wasn't even my boss yet at the time.  The last time I was required to come into the office was 5 years ago.  I work in sweats and t-shirts, no shoes, no makeup.  I can kiss and hug my daughter goodbye before school and I can pick her up afterward.

It is bad because I am very close to my refrigerator.

When I am frustrated at work (often) many times I will turn to my refrigerator for comfort.  My refrigerator comforts me, it understands me, it loves me and feeds me.  (Is this too much information?)  Anyway, as we all know, I should not be so friendly with my refrigerator due to the "mad love" fallout that is currently my stomach and my ass.  Me and my refrigerator need to break up. 

So far, I have been making giant pots of soup and chili and curry to aid in my curing my heartbreak.  Unfortunately, some of that has come to an end.  While working from home I could carve out a half an hour to chop and dump ingredients into a big pot for simmering but I AM NOW A COMMUTER... well, sort of.  During the summer I am bringing my daughter to my sister's house.  I'll work from here while keeping an eye on her kids and mine to save us from child care costs.... but now I am far away from my new lover, my soup pot.

Now my soup/stew/curry making has to be relegated to Sunday afternoons.  I bought a bunch of single serving sized semi-disposable storage bowls so I can freeze my concoctions.  I've been bringing one over to my sister's every day.  Chicken wings.  Don't knock 'em.  Hot wings are not that high in calories and hot sauce has almost no fat at all.  About 6 wings is very filling and about 250-300 calories.  Cook up a big batch and freeze them (once cool) in freezer storage bags.  They take 20 minutes to re-heat in the oven or 5 minutes in the microwave.  Make the teriyaki sauce I used for my stir frys and use that on the wings for a change of pace.  There are also low-fat cheeses that come in handy 1 ounce sticks to be found in the dairy section of the grocery store. 

So, today, my point is... even if you can't be at home, all is not lost.  Just plan ahead.  I doubt my refrigerator even misses me.