Easy as Pie! Holiday Cooking

I'm sitting on the couch, holding a sleeping baby in my arms, and staring at the front covers of the magazines on our coffee table because it would be too much work to actually hold one and read it. Plus, even if I tried, Declan would wake up or the phone would ring or Eleanor would need help on the potty .... the interruption possibilities are endless.

Anyway, the front cover of the latest Cooking Light declares "Easy-as-Pie: Open House Menu." I think the title is a bit misleading because I read that article last week, and I'm pretty sure there's no pie involved. Surely there must be an unwritten rule of food writing that states you can't use common food expressions like "easy as pie" or "piece of cake" or "tougher than grandma's overdone turkey" unless said food is actually relevant to the topic. Otherwise, you just confuse people.

However, the topic of holiday cooking reminds me of the many Cooking Light recipes we've used and enjoyed since we moved into our house and actually started cooking for the holidays, 5 years ago. Here's some of our favorites:

• Coconut Biscotti: a big change from most other sugary holiday cookies, and delicious dunked in hot tea!
• Last year we made Rosemary Mashed Sweet Potatoes with Shallots for Thanksgiving, and they were a big hit. This was our first experience cooking with shallots, wherein we discovered that they are absolutely delicious and really freakin' expensive.
  
• This year, we opted for a much sweeter (but still delicious) recipe in the Streuseled Sweet Potato Casserole. Another bonus with this one is that it's easy to make the day before and just bake on the big day.
• My favorite, which I insist on making every year whether anyone else wants it or not, is the Cranberry, Cherry, and Walnut Chutney. Fresh cranberries are delicious!
  
• Speaking of cranberries, for dessert last year Keith made the Cranberry Swirl Cheesecake. I think we may make it again this year. Especially now that we know it needs to chill for a day to set. Whoops!
  

Decadent Toast

I've been having a really hard time with heart burn and indigestion during this pregnancy. A few weeks back, I spent an entire weekend with constant heartburn and the consistent feeling that I could be throwing up at any moment. After spending most of the weekend in bed, leaving Keith and Eleanor to fend for themselves, I talked to my OB, who told me to take an over-the-counter stomach acid inhibitor before bed every night.

This has been a huge help, but I still need to be more careful with my food than I was with the first pregnancy. There's some foods that I've cut out entirely (tomato soup, which seems a bit odd) and others that I can only eat early in the day, or risk a sleepless night of burning fire in my esophagus.

I'm guessing it's these terrible food experiences that have me craving simply weak tea with toast and butter. And not just any toast; it has to be the least nutritional of all: white bread toast.

I finally bought some the other day at the grocery store, and it felt so decadent. No whole wheat! No added seeds or nuts! Eleanor didn't even really understand what it was, since we've never had white bread. I mean, she's seen it, and we've had white hamburger burns, but we've never actually bought white bread for our house. In general, this doesn't feel like a sacrifice to me. I prefer the stronger, nuttier taste of the more nutritional breads. So why would I buy white?

Except for lately, when even a mundane food can make my digestive tract rebel, and suddenly white bread is one of the most appealing foods there is. I've luxuriated in white bread toast and peanut butter and jelly sandwiches ..... on white bread!

I think my digestive issues are resolved enough that I'm mostly over my white bread obsession. At the grocery store today, I picked up my usual oat nut bread and barely glanced at the Wonder Bread's gleaming loaves. But I also know that there's still a half-loaf of white bread stashed in the pantry, for a few more bland yet delicious treats.

Camping Past and Future

I've had a lot of late nights recently, for one reason or another. One night I might have grading, another night I might just be staring at the ceiling for no good reason. It's unfortunate because I'm definitely an early-to-bed, early-to-rise person.

But here I am, past my bedtime, determined to write up a quick blog post before another day goes by without one. I don't want August to be another month like July; 3 posts in one day to meet my self-imposed quota! How embarrassing.

Eleanor LOVED camping, which wasn't much of a surprise. I was surprised that she told me she didn't like the fire. "No flames," she said on the first night, preferring to go to sleep in the tent instead. Of course, once we were in the tent she lifted her head and told me, "Uncle Josh like the flames. No sleep in tent! Go outside!" I overruled her, and once the protests were over she quickly fell asleep.

Now we have our big camping trip to look forward to: Next week, Keith, Eleanor, and I are going on a 5-day trip to a national park in Vermont. Keith and I have been looking forward to this for a long time. I envision all of the hours of naps she'll (hopefully? maybe?) be taking, when I don't have any housework, errands, coursework to do. Will I read? nap? write? The possibilities are endless!

Eleanor is starting to realize that a big trip is coming, and she's excited, too. I would say that, at this point, her top 10 things about camping are:

1. S'mores
2. sleeping in the tent
3. cookies
4. bouncing on my parents' camper mattress
5. chips
6. hiking
7. breakfast cereal in a box
8. eating at the picnic table all the time
9. juice
10. S'mores
    

Are you noticing a pattern here? So much to look forward to!

Sugar-Free Again. Maybe.

As I mentioned a few weeks ago, I'm really trying hard to cut down on the amount of refined sugar I eat. I want to be healthier, have more energy, spend less money on junk food, and be a good role model for Eleanor. And if I should happen to lose weight in the bargain ... it's all to the good!

It seems like a no-brainer, but of course it's been very challenging. This isn't the first time I've tried to clean up my eating habits, although I'm still hoping it will be the last. I have a serious problem with weekends, and special plans. I always feel like, "It's not every day that I have a birthday party/go to a baseball game/go on a date with Keith/etc," so I feel justified, in this one instance, to treat myself. But then the one instance turns into 2, into a day, into the entire weekend, and then I spend the next week struggling to get back to where I had been the week before. Most of the time it feels like one step forward, two steps back. Or, more appropriately, one pound lost and two pounds gained.

So why am I writing about this again? Do I really have anything new to say?

What is new is my perspective. I am acknowledging that this is a long-term process. And I'm probably going to have cheat days or binges or fall off the wagon many times. But I am going to keep trying. Because I do think that it's an important change to make, for me and my family. I'm not going to see myself as a failure because of one bad weekend, or week, or fortnight .... and one day, I will stop writing about my eating habits because there will be no more angst there!



(Probably not too soon though, so don't get your hopes up.)

Little Choice

My friends, I have been nearly sugar free for about 5 and a half days--since Sunday morning.

By "nearly" sugar free I mean that I've been following a pretty strict eating plan until dinner, and then eating with my family. During the day I've been having:

• Breakfast: Smoothie made of protein powder, skim milk, flaxseed, fresh fruit, and ice
• Morning snack: chocolate soy milk and lowfat cottage cheese
• Lunch: salad with chicken and other veggies (cucumber, carrot, mushrooms, bell peppers) and an oil-based (not creamy) dressing
• Afternoon snack: handful of raw nuts, either walnuts or almonds
• Drinks: regular tea or water

And that's it! For dinner we've had pasta or last night was steak and asparagus. Monday night Keith made some spicy chicken wraps with lettuce and whole wheat tortillas. Tonight we're having turkey burgers on whole wheat buns with a side of sweet potato fries.

I'm not sure how long this will continue. Why am I doing it? Because I'm tired of feeling tired and without energy, and without control over my cravings. I know that I eat refined sugar all the time and that it needs to stop.

I've been saying this for a long time, and for some reason I actually did something about it on Sunday. I'm not really sure why it was different. Maybe it was the fact that we went out for pizza on Saturday night, and I inadvertently drank so much Coke that I felt ill? Or maybe it's the fact that Eleanor now points to my can/bottle/glass and says, "Coke!" and wants to drink what Mommy's drinking, instead of her milk or water.

On the other hand, I have tried to eat better before and failed. Will this time be any different? One difference that might work in my favorite is, oddly enough, that it is so strict. Never before have I tried to cut out refined sugar; I've just said that I won't drink pop (but I'll still eat Oreos), or tried to reduce my overall calorie consumption.

I felt miserable for the first few days. I didn't feel deprived; I've rarely been physically hungry. But I had headaches and felt more tired and achy than ever. I'm doing better today, but I still don't feel great. Where is the boundless energy and enthusiasm that is supposed to come with quitting sugar?!? I'm waiting!

I need some kind of reinforcement to convince me to keep eating like this. I hope to stick with it for at least another week, and hopefully by then I'll start feeling the positive effects instead of just the negative effects of sugar withdrawal.

I've said so many times that I wanted to eat healthier—just be a healthier person in general. We'll see if I'm ready to take that plunge or not!

Happy Birthday to Me!

Yes, today I am 32 years old. Amazing how young that seems, now that I've arrived there. Because whatever age we are, "old" is at least 10 years past that, right?

No big plans for my birthday. I'm working most of the day. This evening, Keith promised to make me homemade pizza because I've been craving it all week. He also made me promise to not grade essays, work on lesson plans, etc. this evening. I hope I can stick to that promise without too much trouble.

This (pizza, movie, relaxing at home) has been my birthday celebration for the past few years. I'm okay with not making a big deal out of my birthday. But I do find myself wondering, as I get older, will I want to celebrate it more? Like, maybe I won't be very happy about getting a year older, so I'll need a big party to psych myself up and be okay with getting into my mid-30s, early 40s, and on upward?

For 32, however, I think homemade pizza and a movie suit me just fine. Not to mention the weather here is gorgeous and good-mood-inspiring. May everyone have a good Friday, and enjoy my birthday! :)

About that Long Run

As I've mentioned before, I've been training for the Inland Trail Half-Marathon. My training has been sketchy, at best. I kept telling myself to do the best I can, to get in as many runs as I can, and just see what happens. I figured that my 12-mile training run would let me know whether I'm ready or not.

That training run took place this past weekend, and it was a nightmare.

The first six miles went fine. I was feeling good, on pace, happy about my half-marathon prospects. But, alas, the half-marathon is much longer than six miles. Keith and I had gone out to the Inland Trail itself, and ran straight out and back to the car to re-familiarize ourselves with the course. So at six miles, I turned around and headed back in. I walked for a few minutes, eating jelly beans and drinking water.

This part is important. If you're a runner, you might assume I had the Sport Beans, which are "specially formulated with sports performance in mind. Sport Beans provide a source of easily digestible carbohydrate for fuel, the electrolytes sodium and potassium for proper fluid balance, and B1, B2, B3, and C vitamins for energy metabolism and good health."

That would be a sensible guess. But unfortunately, we'd run out of time the day before to purchase either Sport Beans or my preferred Shot Bloks (cran razz is my favorite). So I decided to wing it, and just use normal jelly beans. How different can it be?

In summary, I was doubled over by mile 9 and walked most of miles 10-12. I completely imploded. Pretty much my worst-case scenario, especially when hoping that the 12-mile run would prove to myself that I was ready for the half.

So, now what? In the end, I'm still planning on signing up for the half. I know that I've done enough training that I should be able to go the distance. And if I didn't sign up, I would always wonder whether I could have done it or not. After weeks of time and effort, I would rather try and fail than not try at all.

To get myself in the right frame of mind, I'm placing all of the blame for my horrible run this past weekend squarely on the jelly beans. I'm assuming that my training is fantastic, I'm completely up to the task, and if I don't eat jelly beans the day of, I'll be fine.

Making the Switch

It's about that time of year. I'm making the switch from iced tea to delicious, warm-your-toes hot tea.

Iced tea is fine, as beverages go. It offers a shot of caffeine with a hint of bitterness. No calories, which is also a good thing.

But hot tea is so much more. Holding a steaming mug on a cold day is divine. I think it has to do with the forced anticipation of refreshment as I'm waiting for the tea to cool enough to drink. I look forward to drinking it long before the first sip actually takes place. Plus, for whatever reason I feel like the flavors are more intense. Even though I use the same tea bags to make iced tea as I do for hot tea, I find the flavor of hot tea much more appealing.

Or maybe it's all in my head. Maybe it has nothing to do with the beverage, but the fact that the switch coincides with my favorite season, Fall. No matter what the reason, I'm looking forward to getting my tea mugs back out and switching the kettle on after my early morning runs!

Happy Birthday, Beckett!

Beckett also enjoyed Eleanor's birthday. We ended up taking all of the presents outside, so everyone could gather loosely around the deck and either watch Eleanor (me and Keith, for the most part) opening her presents, or play. After opening the presents, we brought out the cake and homemade ice cream and Eleanor's high chair and large bib for her first taste of cake.

Keith was getting Eleanor situated in the high chair and I started cutting up pieces of cake, to be served with the ice cream. Keith's cousin started making her way around the deck, taking orders. Plates with cake started lining the bench, patiently awaiting ice cream and distribution to party goers.

And Beckett saw his opportunity. He came up out of nowhere, grabbed an innocent piece of chocolate cake, and gobbled it right down. Before Eleanor or anyone else had even tasted the cake.

He was, as always, unrepentant. I guess I should just be glad that it was only a piece of cake, and he wasn't on top of the table eating the whole entire cake in one go. It's been known to happen!

My Toughest Critic

Before Eleanor was born, I was certain that I would make my own baby food. I mean, why not?!? How hard can it be? It would take hardly any time, save us lots of money, and ensure that our precious baby was getting only the purest of ingredients, lovingly crafted into delectable mush.

And then. Eleanor. I tried making baby food a few times. But 1) it took a LOT longer than I was anticipating, and 2) she refused to eat it. Even though she loves baby food in a jar. So it's not saving us much money if I end up throwing all of it out. I don't know; maybe I tried the wrong foods, or the wrong techniques, or something. But she wasn't having it, and I was incredibly frustrated, so I gave up.

Then we tried to make the switch to real food. Which she also doesn't really like. The girl likes her food slimey and out of a jar, or in the shape of a fish, and it's been a hard trait to combat. But we keep trying. We've cooked sweet potatoes, peas, carrots, plain pasta. I've given her raw strawberries, blueberries, cantaloupe, watermelon, and more. She's tried orange juice, cheddar cheese, swiss cheese, and cottage cheese. Every day, for every meal, I give her little bits of finger food that, 90% of the time, doesn't ever get eaten. Most of it goes in the mouth, but it all comes right back out again. We were shocked this weekend when she seemed to be eating ham. Ham! And the next day, when we offered it again, it was summarily rejected.

So. The point I'm getting at here, is that I was amazed to serve her the same meal that we ate tonight: whole wheat spaghetti with veggie pasta sauce. And she loved it!! She couldn't get enough. I don't know if it's because she was eating the same thing as us, or the taste, or whatever. But it was the first time I've actually cooked something for her and had such a positive reaction. I felt on top of the world.

I don't know how I'm going to feel tomorrow, however, when I try to feed it to her again, and it ends up on the floor, getting hoovered up by the dog. Can this be the start of a streak, where she actually eats real food? Or am I just getting my hopes up for nothing?

At least if she rejects her birthday cake, I'll know that it means something is wrong with her taste buds, and it's not my cooking.

This Blog Is the Man

There were lots of comments, electronically and otherwise, on the last post about keeping track of diet and fitness. I would love to offer this blog as a place for my friends and readers to let me / the world know how their efforts at healthy living are going.

I know that a certain person is training for her first full marathon, another particular husband is shooting for a new 5k PR, and some of us are trying to lose baby weight, or maintain that weight loss.

Although this isn't specifically a fitness blog (you should head over to FitGeGe for that), I'm always looking for motivation, encouragement, and tips. So, if anyone is interested, I would be happy to commit to posting on a somewhat regular basis (every two weeks or so?) about my progress or lack thereof on my weight loss and fitness goals. And hearing from everyone in the comments about how things are going for you ... or have the occasional guest post from someone who has a product they'd like to talk about or a technique that works for them.

Let me know what you think!

Like Crack for Babies

At 11 months, Eleanor is still not a great eater of solid foods. She has expanded her repetoire a bit, though. From nothing .... to crackers. One morning she still wouldn't eat any solid foods, and that afternoon she was chowing away on Graduates puffs like a champ. I thought it was a good sign ... we'd be onto "real food" in no time!

But apparently there's a texture issue. Some things are okay. She enjoys bananas in a jar AND as finger food. But real peas? sweet potatoes? chicken? They do NOT make the cut.

She does like crackers, though. And bread. Our little carb addict! I gave her goldfish crackers once, to see if she would like them. And now she wants them all the time. If I bring out the box, she starts bouncing up and down in her high chair.

With all of the foods that she's rejected, I am shocked at how eagerly she accepted the goldfish. It was an instantaneous love. When a small tupperware of goldfish crackers are proffered to her while at the store or in a restaurant, she shoves her hand in and leaves it there ... I think she's trying to get as many fish to adhere to her sticky baby fingers as possible. Last night she ate goldfish with her left hand, while still tightly clasping a dozen or so mangled fish in her right fist. Presumably to eat later.

So we're walking a fine line. Do we try to force her to try new things? Or do I just let her eat goldfish at every opportunity? Is this something she grows out of? Advice from experienced parents would be much appreciated!

Not Very Fortunate

I got lunch from Tea House Noodles the other day (be forewarned that their graphics have sound effects, so you might not want to click the link at work if others sit close by). I really wanted the pad thai noodles with peanut sauce, but decided to try something healthier and get the noodles with miso broth and tofu. Big disappointment; it just wasn't very flavorful at all. So I know this means I'll order out from them again, sooner than I normally would, so I can satisfy my pad thai cravings.

But anyway, a fortune cookie comes with the meal. After setting aside the remainder of my bland noodles, I was looking forward to the tasty cookie, as well as the fortune. The crunch and sweetness didn't disappoint, but the fortune was ... not a fortune. At all. It said:

"A movie would be a great way to relax this weekend."

What?!? How is that a fortune? Plus, we're already going camping this weekend. You know nothing of my weekend plans, Fortune Cookie! Much less what I find relaxing. Maybe I would rather relax with a good book, or by cooking, or by running a marathon. (ha!) Or maybe I'm blind.

Maybe you should stop making assumptions about my lifestyle, and just tell me what is going to happen in the future! I don't care if it comes true or not; if it were very specific and it did come true, I would actually find that quite creepy. But no more of this banal advice. Give me a real fortune next time! And by next time, I mean Monday afternoon when I pick up some peanut pad thai for lunch .....

Sound the Alarm! And Get Out the Plates

What does it say about my cooking that, since we've been making an effort to order in less (because we never actually ate out, anyway!), the smoke alarm next to the kitchen has unexpectedly died?!?

It went off during dinner preparations the other day, but it was the saddest, tiniest sound. Not very alarming. More sounding the death knell to my culinary aspirations.

Packing Jars of Baby Food for College

This face pretty accurately describes Eleanor's feelings about solid foods. Not a fan.

I had read in a pamphlet from our pediatrician that, by 9 months, some babies will be eating all finger foods, some will be eating all baby food, but most will be eating a mix. Eleanor will turn 9 months in a week, and at this point she's squarely in the baby food camp.

We've tried mashing banana, making homemade sweet potatoes and green beans, giving her commercial first foods by Gerber and Cheerios, even offering "adult" food like spaghetti and macaroni noodles and mashed potatoes .... all for naught. It's That Face every time.

Should I be trying harder? Or should I just continue trying every once in awhile, and trust that she'll get around to it at some point? I'm surprised because she was so willing to try baby food, I thought it would be a smooth transition to solids. That Face says otherwise, however!

Our Pizza Box Holder

We haven't been very good about cooking lately. Partly because we've been busy, and I've been extra tired. And partly because we know we won't have the discretionary income in a few weeks to be ordering out all the time.

I've started referring to the stove as our "pizza box holder," since it seems to be doing more of that lately than actually being fired up. I hope we're not making it harder for ourselves to adjust after the baby arrives. Falling into bad habits now that will be hard to break later.

But I figure, any habit we have now is irrelevant post-baby. I don't really think we can assume that anything will be the same when we get home from the hospital. So even if the stove is a pizza box holder now, I think we'll be able to see it in a whole new light with Little L around.

It will be the surface on which we slap together peanut butter and jelly sandwiches.

Fascinating, Captain*

Well, we made it through the weekend! Keith's family came to visit and we had a great time hanging out. Overall, it was pretty laid back. But even so, and with all the help they gave me, I was still pretty worn out by Sunday evening. I'm very glad this is a 4-day week! (For my international readers: Friday we have off to celebrate our Independence Day.)

Most of the weekend we used paper plates for everything, because it just made life a whole lot easier. But I decided to really step it up a notch on Sunday morning and use real plates. I set the table with placemats, the smaller square plates, silverware, juice glasses, napkins—the works! If you didn't know better, you might actually think that Keith and I eat meals at the table on a regular basis.

So anyway, I turned all of the square plates at an angle to the rectangular placements, so they appeared as a diamond-shape to the diners. I liked the contrast of shapes. I did this as I set the table, and then completely forgot about it.

Maybe a half-hour later, after all of the eggs, goetta, watermelon, etc. had been consumed, Keith's sister Jessica looked around the table. She realized that half of us had left our plates as set, and the other half had turned them so the straight edge was against the table edge. Upon further inspection, we realized that all of the engineers (which includes Keith's dad, because his mom argues the kids got their engineering brains from him) had turned their plates so the straight edge was facing them. All of us non-engineers had left them cock-eyed.

I hadn't meant for the plates to be a psychological experiment, but I think the results were very telling!


* In case you're not as big a dork as I am, you may not realize the title is a reference to Spock on the original Star Trek television series.

Thanks to the cereal, it's a boy!

Even though Keith and I don't want to find out the sex of the baby for sure, that doesn't stop us from constantly guessing what it might be.

We both suspect that it will be a boy, not for any specific reason. Strangely enough, we were surprised last week when we tried several of the old wives' tale methods of telling the sex (wedding ring on a string, etc.) and they indicated "girl" more often than "boy." Maybe we really do need to pick a girl's name.

However, my faith in our hunch was restored by an article my friend Amy sent to me today. According to a British study, a diet high in calories, and particularly one that includes cereal for breakfast, leads to a greater likelihood of having a baby boy. When I got pregnant, I was training for the half-marathon. So I was eating a LOT of calories. And I always eat cereal for breakfast. Always.

So maybe we'll paint the nursery blue after all. This seems like a pretty definitive study to me!

Also, because I haven't posted any yet, here's some belly pics. I can't believe how much bigger it's gotten in the past month. I can only imagine what the next picture will look like!

Happy Birthday to Me!

I hope you all are enjoying the 30th anniversary of the date of my birth. (Or I guess it would technically be the 29th anniversary celebration?!?) Here it is cold, but very sunny. So I'm happy for the sunshine!

I am at work today, since I have a hard time justifying taking a day off in the middle of the week. Especially after being home sick with a cold on Monday. But I can't say I'm getting much work done, or that I feel *too* guilty about my lack of productivity. I forget things, now that I'm older! And I'm slowing down, too.

Tonight I'm going to go home after work and do NOTHING. I'm going to try my hardest to resist the urge to wash dishes, or throw in a load of laundry. I'm going to lay on the couch with a good book in one hand and a champagne flute of sparkling fruit juice in the other. I will then cover myself in cat treats to make Gomez pay me some attention while Keith and Beckett are out for their walk.

Once Keith gets back, we're going out for dinner (Mexican) and a movie. I'm really looking forward to going on a date with him— we don't do it nearly often enough. I'm even a little giddy, trying to figure out what to wear!

After we get home from the movie, I will NOT check my email. I will still avoid the dirty dishes and piles of laundry. I will NOT do any work for our side business. I will relax, maybe knit a bit more of the baby blanket, and go to be a relaxed, refreshed 30-year-old.

Vending Machine Blues

As I may have mentioned before, my healthy diet nemesis is not pizza or Doritos or even my beloved Oreos, in my opinion. My real sugar, empty-calorie addiction is pop.

I always told myself that, once I was pregnant, I would give up all crappy foods and eat 100% healthy. I thought that if I was doing it for someone else, instead of myself, I would have the willpower to do it. The sugary foods would lose their usual appeal and I could resist temptation without batting an eyelash.

I was wrong. Very, very wrong. Especially during the first trimester, when I felt terrible and for whatever reason, healthy food held no appeal and all I wanted to eat was crap. Fast food, sweets, and gallons of carbonated beverages. In actuality it wasn't quite that bad—I did manage to force down fruits, vegetables, and whole grains on a somewhat regular schedule—but still I was humbled by the experience. I knew other women had indulged during their pregnancies, but I thought I could rise above it all. And I was wrong.

Which I was reminded of again yesterday. For the past few weeks, I've had at least one night where I had trouble sleeping. I don't think I've gained enough weight yet to be really uncomfortable sleeping, but sometimes my brain just won't shut off. Yesterday I was experiencing the aftermath of a sleepless night, and all I wanted was pure sugar and caffeine to get me through the afternoon. An afternoon which would be spent going over budgets. I knew I'd need help to get through the day without my head drooping onto the piles of paperwork.

So I caved. I went to the vending machine to get a refreshing Dr. Pepper. AND IT WAS OUT. So I tried the other pop machine AND IT WAS BROKEN. I was devastated. I had been dreaming about the sugary pop of carbonation bubbles on my tongue all morning. How was I going to stay awake now?!?

And for some reason, that made me think about how sucky it would be to have the job of vending machine repair man. From my own personal experience, people take their vending excursions wayyyyy too seriously. For something that costs about $1 and is consumed immediately on purchase, I get very invested in it. No one wants to be eating out of vending machines—we finally turn to them in desperation, when we were running late and didn't pack any lunch, or JUST ... NEED ... SUGAR. This is a very serious thing.

So I'd imagine that vending machine repair persons get a much larger hassle from irate customers than the cost and life span of their products warrants. "It's just candy!" I'm sure they think throughout their entire day. But we all know it's not just candy. It's the office worker's salvation, and so much more.