We had a good time at the play last night. It was a good production, although sometimes a bit hard to hear the dialogue. The Christmas carol singing was very good and I loved the staging! Good stuff. This was at Proctor’s Theater down in Schenectady. We had never been there before. Tons of stuff happens at Proctor’s, but we are an hour away, so it’s a lot to get down there and back, especially on a weeknight. This show was at 7 pm, so not too late of night after we got home. Thanks to my BIL for the tickets! Here is a shot of how beautiful Proctor’s is:
It’s decorated for Christmas, too, and very pretty.
And hooray for a stranger’s head in my photo! 😀 My little camera actually did really well. No flash used for these pictures. I just set the ISO to 1600 and tried to hold really still.
It’s funny, I have been in so many Christmas performance that it is still weird to sit on the audience side. I can’t tell you how many performance and reheasals of the Nutcracker I was in (the pit orchestra) – to the point where it made me want to stab my eye out when I would hear the music. It’s a little better now.
On to today!
I had oat bran for breakfast. Funny, oat bran is less calories than regular oats, and pretty much the same stat wise, but it keeps me fuller. Not sure why.
Normally I have a banana mashed into this with the egg whites, but the bananas were still too green. So just the egg whites cooked in today and topped with PB and jam. Dark and dreary this morning, too.
It was warm enough today to take a walk, though. In the 50s! Crazy. Wish I could have gotten my bike out, but I had to work.
I also did my strength workout. My lifting routine was as follows today:
| Exercise | Set/rep/ |
| Overhead Shoulder Press | 3 sets of 10 |
| Pliet squats | 3 sets of 10 |
| Dumbbell Pullover | 3 sets of 10 |
| Dumbbell Chest Fly | 3 sets of 10 |
| Dumbbell Good Morning | 3 sets of 10 |
| Russian Twist | 3 sets of 10 (each side) |
| Triceps Kickback | 3 sets 10 |
I kind of miss the gym when I do the strength stuff at home. It’s just not quite the same.
Protein lunch today, and a quick one. This was unflavored whey protein, cinnamon, applesauce and almond milk.
These berries were good, too. Just like they look!
Work was busy today, although I am no longer working one of my accounts. My company renegotiated a contract with this particular clinic and in order to keep the account, they had to offer less. That meant that they couldn’t afford to keep me on that account and now I have to train on a new one. It was my favorite, too. Booo! This happened to 3 of us working that account. Do good work, get a raise and it comes back to bite you in the butt. 👿 Sigh. I will have to work my secondary accounts while they set me up with a new one – and hope there is enough work. This is why my industry always feels very tenuous. You just never know what will happen.
John made up lattes today. It’s all festive.
It’s now that time of year when John’s business starts to slow down after being super busy. Today was one of those days and he was Mr. Productive at home. Cleaning and cooking! He made up dinner in the crockpot today. Chicken and barley soup. All I did was cook some broccoli.
Relaxing tonight for sure. I have some room for chocolate tonight in my calories, which is well deserved.
Today’s ornament:
We have very few tubas on the tree. John played tuba and trombone in college. I played horn – and of course there are billions of horn ornaments out there (and we have a bunch). Poor John complains that there is no tuba love, so we try to find him tuba ornaments so he doesn’t feel left out 
Hi Lori! Really love your updates! I’m wondering how you make your Oat Bran? I just got a bag of it today and am not sure how to make a single bowl. Do you use milk or water? How much bran to how much liquid? Do you sweeten it? Sorry for so many questions, but when I saw your breakfast I thought…aha! The perfect person to ask how to use my new purchase!
TIA
Lori
Oat bran is super easy. Just use 1 cup of water for 40 grams of oat bran (1/4 cup??). Whisk in the oat bran to boiling water to keep from clumping and cook for 2 minutes. I always use water, but one of my favorite things to do with oats and oat bran is the mash up a banana really well and add it to the cooking water. That sweetens it up just a bit. I don’t add any sweetener to mine other that the banana or whatever jam I put on top, but I think that is an acquired taste.
Yay for tuba players. That is always a crucial instrument for us when we are doing our middle school band recruitment.
It’s hard with young kids since the tuba is so big and you need so much air for it! Even the little tubas are big 😀
Oops I forgot to comment last night. I was mostly going to comment that I was wondering about your strength routine, so you answered it in these two posts.
That theatre is just beautiful. What a fun Christmas thing to do! Your soup looks like what I need tonight. Nice and warming and not too heavy.
Love the tuba instrument.
I’m not sure yet but I might be in your neck of the woods around Christmas time. When you mentioned the Proctor Theatre I thought “I just saw that when I looked up Albany NY” today for things to do there 🙂 That is where Kevin is for nuke school now and so we might spend a few days after Christmas there. Anyway, let me know and maybe I can see you guys (would love to see your mom too). Those oats do look good.
I would love to see you again!
What a beautiful theatre. And I LOL at “stab myself in the eye” Glad the songs don’t evoke that any longer. Hope your work situation sorts itself out very soon. Have a great day Lori, and happy Tuba to John.
What a lovely theatre.
Sorry to hear about your favorite account but I’m sure they are going to miss you doing the work for them and who knows they are willing to pay more just to get you back.
I don’t know (I think I did) if I ever told you we were musicians too? My sister also played the horn and I played a “bugle” (don’t know the English word, looks like a trumpet) and my Dad did percussion. We were all in the same orchestra and back then it was a lot of fun but I have no desire to pick it up again (had to start all over again too). But it’s always nice to meet someone who did this too, like you.
I think I remember you saying that you were a musical family. I still have my horn, but I don’t play it. It’s a bit too emotional for me to get it out, so I just do the guitar now.
I felt stabby about the Hallelujah chorus after signing it several years in a row. I’m better now too 😉
I understand about the weekenight out thing, especially when the theater is that far away. Glad you enjoyed the play though and that theater is beautiful.
Whenever you talk about John being domestic it makes me wish Mr. Helen worked from home. The soup looks so good!
I agree…it’s definitely not the same for me to workout at home. I need a “PLACE” to go!
I used to play the tuba 🙂
I love oat bran, now I just have to remember to pick some up when I go grocery shopping. That bowl of soup looks amazing!
Yay tuba!
YAY clarinet? 🙂 the tuba always looked too….unwieldy.
I’ve always loved barley soup. The theatre you went to reminds me of a place I used to go to in college called The Rivoli. It used to be a dinner theatre with the tables in front of the seats but was later converted into a budget theatre. It had the beautiful platforms and winding stairs on the sides, the ornate curtains, etc. I miss that place!
Oh, that is a beautiful theater!
I’m not so good (a polite way of saying “rotten”) at strength training at home. I’ve got to get better at it, or get my fanny back to the gym! Our outdoor temps have been super mild, and I’ve been opting for long walks instead of gym time.
Your strength workout looks fabulous! I need to do more strength training and this looks like something I can explore 🙂 love it!
Great food pictures as always. I haven’t had candied pineapple in a while. YUM.