Get Moving!!!!

We are experiencing a real  "gully-washer" as my Grandmother would say.  It has rained and lighting-ed and thunder-ed for 2 days.  Thankfully it stopped on Sunday before worship and after so our King's Kids program could meet.  We have been going to a park and letting the children play and have fun.  It's like public school going on field trips all at the end of the year (no offense meant here, teachers, I totally understand!!!).  By the end of the school year (or King's Kids program) you are tired and the ole brain is beginning to go into vacation mode.  Last night was our last KK night and we leaders were just too tired to think up something.  I know....shocking!  The week before we went to the park and the kids played and had fun.  No crying....no fighting...just good old-fashioned recreational time.  No one said "you will play this game and here's how you do it;"  no one organized the time together.  We just provided balls if they wanted to use them and an open space to run and play.  It is so much different than when we have them cooped up in the church fellowship hall and have to organize activities so they aren't running all over the building (and eventually into the sanctuary).  We aren't trying to proselytize either.  We are just adults who love these kids and provide a safe haven for them to come and play.  We also feed them.  A lot is being written these days about kids and obesity and kids and diabetes.  It is shocking and scary.  I'm not saying we feed them broccoli and carrots, but they do receive a hot meal.

Vacation is upon us and I don't have any dreams of fitting into a bikini this season (or ever!) but I do want to be in some sort of shape.  Yesterday I walked to the park and back. Unfortunately I sat and talked to people versus getting out there and playing with the kids.  "It's muddy!"  "I don't want to get my shoes muddy!"  Those were my complaints, not the kids.  They were walking around the mud puddles unless they were 1 year old or 3 (they were the leaders' kids) and they did get muddy!  LOL  I know I sound like a broken record with the exercising talk, but I really want to move....now I just have to do it!

Let's Talk Green Part 2

Several posts ago I mentioned "going green" as in eating more greens.  Yesterday I made a wonderful lettuce wrap with guacamole, sour cream, shredded cheese and lean ham.  It wasn't the neatest or cleanest way to eat but it was yummy and filling PLUS I got in my greens!  Today I want to talk green again.... as in let's keep our earth green and pretty.

I must joyfully admit, there are A LOT of creative people who have touched my life.  I am blessed to have many friends and family whom are extremely creative.  Why just the other day I spoke to my brother.  I learned he and his beautiful wife are teaching a stained glass class (in their spare time...i.e. not getting in the way of golf!).  They are fortunate to live in a city that offers a multitude of hobbies and classes on those multitude of hobbies.  We have a shop near with "hobby" in the name but they don't teach any hobbies.  I've been waiting for a cake decorating class to be offered while the store is waiting for an instructor to teach the class!  Nope I'm not complaining (too loudly) about my little Rural Town.

The ones I am in most awe (more like jealous) of are those creative folk who can re-purpose items.  How can they think up these things?  Taking paper and making beautiful flowers. Or broken china and creating a mosaic.  Or cutting up glass and making it fit just perfectly.  I am creative when I see something and try to copy it.  I can color using a coloring book or make a card as long as there is an example to follow, but try to get my creative juices flowing and my piece of art looks more like a kindergarten mother's day project.

Yesterday I received a package and inside were these beauties!  My friend Peaches is and lives near very creative people.  She frequents a place that re-purposes every kind of button, bow, or spoon.  Again I'm in awe (no, I really am jealous!).  You wouldn't believe how much stuff I donate to a local thrift store.  If I were creative I could probably re-purpose my junk and give away.  Unfortunately I'm not that creative and I'm afraid I'd wind up insulting my family and friends-- they'd think I was dumpster diving again!  I really love my earrings.

 

Another creative friend goes to thrift shops and buys clothing with cute designs.  She cuts them up and makes the cutest baby clothes and gives them away to friends with little ones.  She is doing her part to save the planet one dress or pants or top at a time.

What about you?  Do you have any earth-saving ideas, Grainiacs?  I'd love to hear them and copy them.  That's me, a copy-cat strawberry.

Have a great weekend.  See you on Monday.

Still Dancing

Tomorrow morning I'm leaving early to take Boy for state testing.  I'm not sure I'll remember to publish this post so I'm doing it tonight.  I'm tired/ I'm cranky/ and Gladys Knight just got voted off Dancing with the Stars.  I got all teary as they played "She's leaving on a Midnight Train to Georgia" as pros and stars hugged her good-bye.  I really hate it when I get all misty over a TV program.  It all began when Host Tom introduced a young lady ballerina.  Originally from Africa caught in the ravages of war, losing both mother and father, this child was placed in an orphanage in Africa and was taunted due to a skin condition.  She was called a devil child.  An American couple adopted her and another child from Africa and called them their own.  These two little girls were accepted and loved.  This one child dreamed of dancing and her parents encouraged and paid for lessons.  She has just been accepted to a prestigious dance school.  She danced for us tonight and she is beautiful.  Holding back tears gives me a headache and I have a royal one tonight.  I held back tears at the beginning of the show and then at the end.  I really hate it when I get all teary over a Dancing with the Stars episode!!!

Anywho, on a happier note, I received this photo from my boss.  I laughed out loud when I got it.  I know the best kind of laughter is the belly laugh...I'm thinking I should get floor to ceiling mirrors in my living room to watch myself dance like nobody's watching.....and laugh!  What about you?  Are you claiming a day to dance like nobody's watching?  Maybe we'll see each other on the next season of DWTS.  It could happen!

Shake, Rattle, & Roll

That would be the song the producers of Dancing with the Stars would choose for me!  Various body parts would be shaking (and not in an appealing way like Catherine), my bones would be rattling and drum out the music, and my "roll" would be hanging over the skimpy costume.  Now how's that for a mental picture this early in the morning?!

Last night my boy Castle was not on after Dancing so I watched "DWTS Confidential" instead.  It was a behind the scenes look at the show.  Of course like every program, they got around to talking about weight...losing weight and more specifically Kirstie Alley.  I mean it, can that girl ever catch a break?  She isn't even on DWTS this season and they are STILL talking about her weight!  Good grief.  She seems to be in a happier place but I think she is just delusional (no wonder she is happy!).  I mean really... she claims to have topped at 228 pounds and when asked about her closet she admits that she had clothes ranging from 4 - 16.  Sixteen?!  Really?  You top off at 228 pounds and really expect the American Woman who keeps constant vigil of weight and clothing size to believe that?  I guess it could happen if one sews in their own label or we pay a designer to "downsize" that dress size.  I guess it could happen.....in Hollywood!  LOL  I prefer to just cut out all labels.  They usually can't help sticking out their tongues from behind my back anyway!  Snip snip...that'll keep them from talking.

Every season I get the urge to do my own DWTS in my living room but never get up enough nerve to practice in front of my family.  I sure don't want to scare the Boy and give him nightmares, but I'm planning to suck in my gut and get to it.  I really want to dance.  I love this certain quote.  I have seen credit given to two authors.  Personally I choose Mark Twain.  The other author begins with "You gotta."  I do not think Mark Twain started his verse with "You gotta" so I'm assuming the author took liberties and changed Twain's saying around.  No matter who wrote it, I love it.

“Sing like no one's listening, love like you've never been hurt, dance like nobody's watching, and live like its heaven on earth.”

Who Knew?

Growing up we always had music in the house.  Mom would crank up the old Victrola (hahaha  just kidding; we aren't that old!)...flip a vinyl on the phonograph and music would fill our little home on Moonmist.  I grew up to Eddie Arnold, Peter, Paul and Mary, Rodgers and Hammerstein musicals, and a wide host of musical genres.  Today I am remembering Ray Charles' "Born to Lose." You see I'm feeling like a dieting loser~ and not in a positive way....purely negative.  I have a headache from my starch coma I was in last night and my fingers are bloated to bloat-y proportions.  I'm a mess!  This happens when I feel stressed and out of control.  Do you have those days?  Everything seems to be a chore.  Why do I sound like a broken record?  Second side same verse or some saying like that.

I have some exciting news.  My son's Eagle Project was approved.  Problem is the fund raiser and project are around the same time as my papers are due, a task force I'm on is meeting, a church pancake breakfast is coming up and I'm cooking, and I'm hostessing a dessert for an organization I'm a member of.  And I know that's not all!!!!  When it rains, it pours and baby it is a torrential downpour.  It's not like I scheduled all this at the same time.  Some things were decided upon long in advance.  Who knew the professors would assign all these papers; who knew the long-awaited project would get approved now and it needed to get done immediately.  Who knew?  I should have known.

So do I claim defeat and put de-feet up on the couch and order take out?  Or do I take some time and put on an upbeat song and make a grocery list and plan out fast and easy meals that will not break the dieting?  I believe the answer is as easy as that.  I will not go with the grain as I'm tempted to do.  I will call and get help...first call to Hubby.  He LOVES to grocery shop and I know just the healthy meal I'll have him pick up.  Who knew Ray Charles would be singing about my lifelong dieting dilemma?  This will be the year I'll stop singing "Born to Lose;"  I'm losing once and for all.

Unexpected Turn of Events

Why does doing something that does not come naturally to me feel like having another full-time job?  Take for example dieting.  I have to constantly think about it and plan because it just does not come naturally.  Add to it the desire to recycle vs just throwing it in the trash.  I have to rinse out the container and then find a separate container to dump it in till I take it to the recycle "dump."  Add to those things seminary classes and reading and writing (and comprehending!!!!) and add a blog about dieting and then add a full-time job outside the house...roll it all together and you get me!  Me not doing any of them very well and some of them not at all.  Ouch.  I really despise going against my grain sometimes. 

Oh and get this, Mother Nature after a of year of stopping her monthly visits thought it would be a hoot to come this month!!!!  Really????!!!!!  After I got rid of all the feminine paraphernalia?  Thank you; it's only been A YEAR since I last saw you~~  silly me thinking you were gone for good.  P.S. I don't think I have any male grainiac readers but if I do, I'm terribly sorry for YOUR discomfort, but frankly I don't give a sh!&.

Yesterday would have been my father's 77th birthday.  He was a character.  Some grainiacs will remember my 16th birthday party and the wild outfit my Dad wore-- a striped green/ yellow/ white muscle shirt and Hawaiian flowered print Bermuda shorts.  I'll have to hunt for that picture because it was a mess but for some reason HE could pull it off.  We lived close to a beach and one weekend the family went to the Island for some sun and fun.  But guess who was visiting me?  Yep, the one and only "Aunt Flo."  I hadn't started using Tampons so there I was all padded up and at the beach.  I think Mom or Dad felt pity on me sitting on the shore while everyone else was having fun in the water so Dad took me to 7-11 to purchase more pads so I could play in the gulf too.  Off we go to the convenience store but I wouldn't get out of the car to go in to get them.  I told him to ppplllleeeeeeease go get them for me while I sat in the car.  He said "Sure, everyone in there will know they aren't for me!"  That should have been my first clue.  The next thing I know I look up and into the store and there is my Dad in front of the huge store window holding up 2 kinds of feminine pad packages.  He holds up one and then the other....one and then the other asking in universal father sign language "which one do you want?"  I hit the floor in embarrassment and he was left to decide on his own.  Thankfully he didn't pick Tampons or he'd have to exchange them and we'd start this charade game all over again.  Happy Birthday, Dad.  Your sense of humor and fun look at life are missed.

Let's talk Green

I could mention recycling and Go Green for Earth Day and things like that, but I'd prefer to talk about the green stuff in your refrigerator.  Nope not the science project variety stuff...unless your yellow veggies have turned green and your green veggies have turned black!  Yuck.  Let's talk salads today.  I need to eat more roughy greens and get my digestion back on track.  You don't really want to hear all of this, but I do need more salads in my life.  I might need a new fridge first.  For some reason (it couldn't be from age!) my veggies don't last long...no food lasts that long in my "icebox."  I'm thinking it's the fridge's fault but I have to take responsibility and fess up that it's really my fault.  I buy greens knowing they are good for me but then I find a zillion different things to eat and the salad drawer quickly turns into a death drawer.  Take a look at this.  You remember when I cleaned out the fridge and washed it down from top to bottom?  I think that's the last time I looked in the veggie bin.  Poor veggies.

These tomatoes have seen better days, wouldn't you say?

They are definitely still salvageable and will be consumed tonight...unless they are black on the inside too in which case they will not be consumed by me but the garage dump critters!

My poor peppers have seen better days too.  They will be chopped and sauted and top some meat tonight.

onions and peppers!  You just can't go wrong..unless you wait too long to eat them. That's just wrong.

Yikes, the meat I was hoping to eat had some sort of white fuzz on it.  Good gravy...left-overs are a no-no in this household.  I can't believe it already went bad.  My lesson learned for the day is "Strawberry! Do NOT keep left-overs in the fridge.  Freeze them!!!!"  I will color a poster to remind myself and post it on the refrigerator.  I might keep it clean but that doesn't mean things will stay fresh and perfect.

Back to salads:  I received a suggestion from a Grainiac Banana.  She says she likes grilled chicken salad.  She uses big pieces of grilled chicken with some honey dijon dressing on the side.  She adds lots of tomato and lettuce too and purple onion.  She wrote "I don't grill my chicken but I brown the chicken tenders  on both sides (in the olive oil from the spray can) after sprinkling them with whatever seasoning I am using at that time--lately I am leaning toward a curry blend--and then I put a lid on and turn the fire down for one minute, then turn the fire off and leave for ten minutes during which they kind of cook through as they are not very fat pieces of chicken.   Then I cut it up in little pieces and put in salad or in tortillas or in containers for freezing."  Thanks for the tip, Banana; I especially like the "freezing" part of your comment.  This sounds like a scrumptious meal and one I will make tonight.

So in the immortal words of Kermit the Frog:

When green is all there is to be
It could make you wonder why, but why wonder why
Wonder, I am green and it'll do fine, it's beautiful
And I think it's what I want to be

Salads are beautiful and I think that's what I want to eat!  Happy Monday, Grainiacs.  Think green.

New 'Do

I need a haircut in a desperate way.  My bangs are hanging way over my eyes.  I spend a huge amount of time blow-drying and styling my hair in the morning only to have it blow every which way but loose by the time I walk into the bank; not to mention it gets pretty "loose" while I'm washing it as in there is too much of my hair around the shower plug!  I don't have that much hair to lose!  Problem is I just don't know how I want it cut.  I usually ask for the wash-n-go look.  For the stylists around here, that means cut it short.  Then for a brief moment I think "why not let it grow out?"  If you look at magazines, the women (young and old) have long beautiful flow-y hair.  They also have hairstylists on their payroll.  When my hair grows out, I put it in a ponytail.  Decisions, decisions.   Do you, dear grainiacs, have any suggestions?  What's your great cut or hairstyle?  I'm desperate.  Don't believe me?  Here's a recent photo with my un-tamed hair.  Help this Strawberry!  Please!

Picture taken for my Old Testament "get acquainted" online class

 

The Best Things in Life are Free

Or are they?  Are the best things in life free?  If so, then why do I want to join a gym versus a free walk around the block?  Why do I want a new couch versus "the already paid for so in essence free" one I have?  Why is the grass always greener when there is a price tag on it?  Why is going to Pizza Hut for lunch during school time so much more appealing (i.e. "better") than the "free" one at school?  Years ago....many years ago when my children were in elementary school, the school provided free lunches to all children.  We lived in an impoverished city and it was easier for the staff to claim all children in that school needed free lunches than to write out the names and families of the 99.7%.  I loved that idea because if all the children were eating the same "free" (I know....taxpayers money is not free) lunches no one could claim superiority over another.  Problem was some of those 99.7% and the .3% were sending kids with lunchboxes and more appealing lunches!  We now have an us vs. them mentality.  AND to top it off the PTA or PTO was selling nacho chips and popcorn and candy as a fundraiser!  AND the school had soft drink machines in the cafeteria!  Now as a child, are you going to eat a lunch with broccoli and carrots and turkey or munch on a 50 cent bag of chips and Coke?  Which looks cooler?  And we really wonder why child obesity is on the rise!

Getting back to the story, my children wanted me to pack a lunch for them and purchase all the fun gummy bears and chips and homemade sandwiches.  I refused.  They could eat the lunches provided by the school like all the other children....well, at least 95.9% of the children.  So imagine my surprise while watching the Food Network and seeing the hungry/ starving children in the United States.  How can that be?  How can children be starving in a country where free food programs/ food banks/ hot meals at churches/ soup kitchens/ etc are abound?  Aren't they abound?  Doesn't every city have these programs?  Are we dealing with parental pride?  Are the cracks people are falling through getting wider instead of narrower?

I'm really conflicted about this.  Here I am writing a blog about my own weight loss struggles while there are starving children in Ethiopia... but wait, these children aren't on the other side of the world, they are in my own backyard.  I know for a fact that children in my Rural, USA have breakfast and lunch provided for them.  Some even take home backpacks for the weekend to make sure they have food while school is not in session.  Are they eating it?  Who's getting that food?  My church has a neighborhood bus ministry.  We "bus" in children on Sunday evenings for a program.  Each Sunday, our King's Kids program provides a hot meal for the children before they go home.  I've been wanting to provide a better breakfast for them on Sunday morning, but I've been lazy and would prefer to sleep a little longer and stay home a little longer before heading out to church.  I'm not going to think that way anymore.  I can be proactive in my community and make sure that every child in our King's Kids program has something to eat and does not go home hungry.

I've started a contest with myself.  Each week I'll be weighing myself and if I gain (even a fraction of a pound) I'll drop $7.00 (one dollar for each day) into the kitty.  By the end of the month I'll either have no dollars or $7.00 or $28.00.  It's not much money and it might not be any money, but my goal is to think about those starving children and whatever money I have in the kitty by the end of the month will be donated to an organization that helps fight hunger or childhood obesity or nutrition.

Name that tune

Have you ever started the day with a song stuck in your head?  You don't know whether you were dreaming about the song or how that dang song got there, but you can't get it out.  This morning I awoke to "Kick 'em when they're up; kick 'em when they're down."  I remember my thoughts(dreams) this morning and it had nothing to do with street fighting--I'm a pacifist, for heaven's sake but it got me thinking about human nature.  I think we do have a little "street fighting" in us no matter what our moral code says.  "Misery loves company" and if I'm suffering, I want you to suffer too.  I read a book about grief.  The author gave great examples and the one thing I came away with from that book is "It is not all about YOU"--my interpretation...not the author's words and definitely not about the person dealing with the grief itself.  I'm talking about how you feel once you have been "kicked."  It has more to do with how you interpret a situation.  Maybe that grieving person is not so nice to you in the check-out line.  They bite and your tendency is to bite back.  How would you know they just lost their child in an auto accident?  So this book had more to do with dealing with someone who may be grieving (that, or they are just a jerk and you don't need to spend your time arguing with a jerk...again, my interpretation and not the author's words!).

Last night on Dancing with the Stars, the Latin Stallion got "kicked" over his Jive dance number.  I thought he did great but the judges (who have been puffing up his ego) kicked him where it hurt-- his ego.  What's been happening behind the scenes, I have to ask?  This is such a complete turn-around.  Did he hurt the judges egos and now they are lashing back....kick 'em when they're up....kick 'em when they're down.....

I don't know why I have that song in my head.  Maybe one of the dance routines last night was to that song.  All I know is I will be more (hee hee) attuned to those I deal with today and remember, they might not be lashing out at me but a situation that has made them want to KICK someone.

I am reposting my "April challenge:  no more ice cream sandwiches for the month and I'm kicking the couch potato habit.  I'm moving my bones and marching to a different drummer.  Watch out April; these boots are made for walking!"  I posted this and then I promptly forgot; I tend to do that..... A LOT.  It is now April 9th and I haven't had any ice cream sandwiches after dinner while lounging on the couch and I haven't been couch potato-ing but I haven't been moving my bones either.  I moved from the couch to the computer chair whilst doing some ancestral researching.  I'm happy I got off the couch and now I have to get up out of the chair and move.  I need to move to keep my mind physically fit.  This Strawberry has gone back to school but not in the traditional sense-- I'm taking 2 online classes through a seminary's "extended campus program."  I love the challenge but I realized a couple of days ago that I've never taken these classes while working full-time either.  Some changes need to be made and I need to start them today because I have an assignment due on Friday for at least one of the classes.  I can't watch TV anymore; that time will be replaced with reading (not exactly a cardio- sport unless I try to walk and read at the same time and believe me, that's not a good thing!).  I might be thinking out loud and possibly even writing on this blog something having to do with the Old Testament or Christian Ethics.  So I hope you will continue on my journey with me and indulge me a few posts if I get off topic.  But let's face it....I tend to get off topic frequently!

Happy Monday, Grainiacs.  It's April and I challenge you to move your "muscles" too.  I will be exercising in body and soul. And one and two and three and ouch!

Mirror Mirror

Why do you lie???  This morning I was fixing my hair for work and the way it was blowing drying reminded me of how I used to wear it in high school.  I thought I'd share it with you today and make some fun remarks but when I uploaded the pictures to my computer I thought "What the heck?  Who's that?"  It's definitely not me in high school!  That's not the person I saw this morning in the mirror!!!!  In the mirror, my hair was "winging" back like Farah Fawcett (only not as poofy and blonde) and my part was more to the middle (my 70's look too)  than it's usual side part.  With the flip of my wrist and my brush I was producing a 70's hairdo....Cool!  So I padded to the kitchen to take a Kodak moment but something was wrong....I'm not looking like I did back then.  I'm looking older; I'm like my Mom's age (actually in between my Mom's and my Grandmom's age!!!).  When did THAT happen?  Nothing like a slap of reality to hit you before you have your morning coffee or healthy breakfast.  

I've always loved the theater and the costumes and the make believe.  Yet some shows are just too real.  I had to stop watching Criminal Minds because of the thin line between fact and fiction.  I kept worrying someone would watch it and say "hey, that's a good idea!"  I watched an episode of Cold Case one night and the murder happened around a Rosie the Riveter theme.  It was great and I loved seeing today's actors dressed that way.  I would imagine it would be hard for an average person to recreate a 50's hair-do in the morning before work, right?  I guess my "flipping wings" hairstyle doesn't seem so hot!   Back to my reality...

Because I love you....I will share my make-believe delusion with you.  You might want to talk to your mirror too and remind it that lying is not nice (ever....but especially in the morning before your breakfast...just saying).

Look at those wings...they're flipping...to the max!

P.S.  I went to the outlet mall in OKC with my girls one weekend and found the cutest s'mores earrings.  I'm a sucker for whimsical.  Aren't they cute?  Can't see them?  Look again....

Hey, who took a bite out of my s'more?

Obsession

Shall I say I have an addictive personality?  No, people and things are not addicted to me; I'm addicted to things and food and movies and TV shows and now.....Ancestry.com!  Since I am an ADS (attention deficit strawberry) I skip around from addiction to addiction (I get bored easily)--no wonder I don't know what I want to be when I grow up....it's my ADS!  No wonder I can't keep on task while writing--I know that's what you are thinking.  Last night I stayed up WAY past my bedtime searching and inputting info onto ancestry.com.  Networks are now producing shows like "Who do you think you are?" and PBS has a great show "Finding your roots with Henry Louis Gates, Jr."  Why I even thought about having my DNA tested after one episode with "finding my roots!"  These marketing people really know what they are doing.  Thankfully I had already subscribed to ancestry.com after my "roots" trip to Scotland so I don't consider myself a convert.  Speaking of Scotland we found out more about Hubby's roots than mine; isn't that the way it goes?  His roots dig deep into the Edinburgh area whereas mine come from a tiny fishing village on the east coast...nowhere near Edinburgh!  That's how it's always been with us.  I remember a trip to Cameron, TX to discover my past.  My great great grandfather founded the first public school in that town.  I thought the museum would be stocked full of Strawberry's father's history.  No, Hubby's family was plastered all over the damn place.  Can you believe it?  Then we go to Scotland and what do we find?  Hubby's clan hails from Malcolm Canmore....yes....THE Malcolm Canmore who killed MacBeth.  For your information, Canmore means "big head."  LOL  So I am a humble little strawberry on a quest to find my roots to help me go against my grain.  Actually it's an addiction now (which is definitely my grain) and I know it will be an expensive one.  I tend to choose the more expensive hobbies and clothing and furniture (not that I get them, mind you, it's just that I can pick the more expensive in the line).  And to think of my humble beginnings in that Scottish fishing village.  ppppfffff

This root searching and addiction confession got me to thinking about my yo-yo dieting.  I DO like to skip around and not stay in one place (sort to speak) for too long.  You'll remember from decades (okay, maybe not decades but definitely many many posts past) ago I lost 14 - 15 pounds.  Yipee, except that's all I've lost.  This past weekend I got sick....really really sick (I won't go into it) and my stomach is still not feeling right.  I got on the scale to see what Kaa (that ssssslithering  ssscale) had to say and he was down 5 pounds.  Now I'm not recommending you catch a 24 hour bug but I'm hoping this loss will kick start me back into the losing mode.  Since my tummy is still a little persnickity, I'm having to watch what I consume.  Well, duh...isn't that the whole part of healthy eating/dieting?  Watch What I Consume.  It's a no-brainer really, but for some reason it isn't in my DNA.  I really think I need to have it tested.  What about you?  Who do you think you are?

The three little loaves

Once upon a time there was a bread maker who tried to make the perfect loaf.  One was too hard; the second one was too soft.  Too soft, you say, that would be the perfect loaf.  Yes, but it bubbled all over the inside of the bread machine; so maybe the third will be "just right" as in soft but not bubbling all over the bread machine leaving a mess for the bread maker to tackle the next morning!  You see I fell asleep before that second loaf finished baking but Boy and Hubby stayed up playing computer games and were given the task of taking the bread out of the machine when the beeper went off.  Before the beeper beeped, they smelled burnt bread and immediately thought "something isn't right with the bread in the bread machine!" They are smart that way.  Sure enough....a honey bread volcano erupted.  Thus I'm on a hunt for a little pig, er, a loaf of bread. 

I was looking at my two loaves and I do believe I can see a face.  I take after my Grandmom that way-- she always found objects in the clouds or a puddle or anything for that matter.  What do you think?

Thank ya, thank ya very much

What's that smirk on your face?  Huh?  "I am not an animal!!"

Did you know that those not so perfect dense loaves of bread make great toast?  I bet it would make an excellent bread pudding too.  Okay, I'm getting too fattening here.  Back to the bread-- soft loaf.....

Perfect...except for the bubbling over the bread machine.

Now to see the top of this "perfect" loaf....ha ha ha

Something just ain't right with that bread!

So my quest continues.  I will huff and I will puff till I make that perfect loaf of bread.