Twinkle twinkle little star

I am up before the chickens this morning.  It is dark outside and if I'd pull up the shades a little more, I bet I could see a twinkling star.  Waking up earlier than planned happens to me when I have lots to do and little time.  I argue with myself about what I should be doing....read "get moving, fatty."  I really should exercise, but I'm dressed and ready to board a plane.  I know-- excuses, excuses.  I'm still not going against my grain on the exercise journey.  So I'm dressed and smelling good (e.g. not that sweaty smell) and I'm heading south again to crazy Austin where their motto is "Keep Austin Weird."  Not everyone there has that motto; there are some "normal" people, but I think they live in Georgetown; or at least that is THEIR motto.

Do you have a motto?  I'm thinking about what my motto would be if I had to wear it on a t-shirt.  I read a cartoon once where a guy is sitting at a light.  The car behind him is honking at him like crazy.  At first the guy is ignoring the horn but then he just can't contain himself.  He gets out of his car yelling obscenities at the woman behind him and stressing that it is STILL a red light and blah, blah, blah.  She meekly rolls down the window and says "Your bumper stickers says 'Honk if you love Jesus.'"  I have to admit:  I'd probably be that insanely mad person getting out of my car and screaming like a banshee at the person behind me (or at least I'd be thinking it out in my head!).  And that is why I don't have a "Honk if you love Jesus" bumper sticker on my car.  So what is a motto?  Would it define me?  Would I make it and then promptly forget about it?  Probably!!

Again I ask:  Do you have a motto?  A phrase to live by?  Shoot me an email and tell me your motto.  And if you are a dead-end doll, then tell me in person!!  I'll be seeing you soon!

Speaking of dolls,  I received my first colored picture from one.  Whoo hoo.  Looky at my new refrigerator art.

Happy Halloween!!!  Don'tcha just love the red, red lipstick?  No matter what your weight, red lipstick makes it all better!

Recently I purchased an already assembled chicken strip salad from a neighborhood fast food joint and decided that I could probably make one just as good and loads cheaper than the $6.00 I just paid.  So without further ado...(sorry, Graini-aunt, I can't go without mentioning food....I tried...honest!  pffff now you know that's not true.... I LOVE FOOD....Hey, I think I found my motto!)

Now tell me that doesn't look scrumptious!  You are welcome!

DDD

I believe there are 3 Ds that will help me on my weight loss journey.  Wait, I bet you thought I was going to talk about bras again, didn't you?  These 3 Ds aren't about cup sizes; they are measures to help me along the way.

• Define what it is I want to achieve from this new healthy journey.

• Drink in (okay, maybe it is about cups after all) and learn from those who have already achieved that which I have defined as wanting.

• Do what the successful person has done.

I have to think about this because I need to figure out if this weight loss journey is vanity or health or what!  Why am I doing it?  What do I hope to achieve?  This past March, the family went to Scotland.  Oh do I ever love Scotland.  We walked nearly everywhere.  Or sat on a bus.  We did not hike it to the highlands, but we did do A LOT of walking.  Guess who always brought up the rear?  Yes, me!  Hubby was a good block and a half in front of me.  When I complained and whined, he told one of the kids to go walk with momma.  Then they whined and complained.  Everyone in my family has long legs, that is, except me!  I want to be able to shoot out of the gate and leave Hubby behind for once.  Truth is, he is older than me.  Maybe at some point in our lives, I can beat him.  I really doubt it, though.  I see his 80+ year old father and that man is still climbing trees.  So, vanity aside, I want to be able to walk and do sight-seeing and fun stuff in my old age.  Carrying extra weight around in my old age is really gonna piss off the kids when they have to push my wheelchair around.  I better lose weight now so my children won't be playing rock/paper/scissors to see who's hauling momma around!

I can learn a lot from those who have achieved weight loss and are successful with an exercise program.  Yahoo has a news section called "Second Act."  They highlight real stories about people reinventing themselves.  I like to read these stories because that is what I'm doing.  I am re-inventing myself.  I'm going against my inbred grain.

Can you trust that date?

As a mother of school age children I'm not afraid of finding science projects in the refrigerator.  Heck, some aren't projects at all; they are some long lost and forgotten dinners.  Our frig even has a death drawer.  You might call yours the "vegetable bin."  So it shouldn't have come as a surprise when I opened a lid containing what I thought was pudding.  Sheesh, I only made it one day ago.  Let's just say the color was something that you'd expect to find on your child's GI Joe-- the one that's been hiding out in the backyard dirt bunker for several monsoons.  That brown/ green combo I was staring down at did not look anything like the delicious sugar-free chocolate fudge pudding photo on the box!  Now really, it was only one day old.  Recently I found some fungus community in the ricotta cheese hidden in the back of the frig that didn't look like that!  Lest you think I made super old pudding, the box stated best used before 2/17/11.  February!  Only 8 months had passed.  I thought we had at least until the end of the year to use it.  Am I wrong?  I've read the reports where you should throw away any kind of Bisquick- like product if the expiration date is over 2 years, but pudding too?  And not even a year old?  It's too much.  So down the drain when the pudding and pout-y face went the strawberry.  I really wanted some pudding but I didn't want it bad enough to sample that camouflaged concoction.

As I was still on my cooking high, I had already prepared a big crockpot full of chili.  As Hubby walked through the front door, he cheered "Shepherd's Pie!"  Boy heard that and cheered "Mashed Potatoes."  Boy is really a hobbit.  His favorite potato chant is "boil them, mash them, stick them in a stew."  I am still limiting my starchy veggies and grains so I made enough for them-- 8 cups!  During dinner, Hubby scrunched up his face and said "I think you should throw out that milk."  What???  It's expiration date was 11/18/11.

I admire farmers and ranchers.  Grow your own beef, grain, veggies, milk.  It's a hard life, I know.  But at least you know "the buck stops here."

Pass the Bowl

Warning:  Content may be disturbing to vegetarians. Viewer discretion advised.

Before I get in to today's topic, I wanted to mention the quick breakfast by Aunt Jemima.  I was in a rush this morning (seems to happen more and more) so I popped this frozen breakfast into the microwave.  It is quick and satisfying for those rushed days.  I didn't have time to dish it out and pretty it up like the other day so I just ate out of the original packaging.  Here it is...

Lots of potatoes and green and red things!

It also passes the quick and simple and good taste-test of the strawberry.

Moving right along...

I'm a carnivore but I love my veggies too.  I planned my little heart out and cooked...all day to be exact.  It's not so hard once you start; it's the starting part that is so hard!  I boiled a chicken and used the broth for my vegetable soup (which is yummy, by the way)

yummy broth

 Makes yummy veggie soup.

 Stew in the pot for tonight or tomorrow or tonight and tomorrow!

It's amazing all you can accomplish once you set your mind and stove to it!  Well dang, now what am I going to do?  I'm the type of strawberry that likes to prove I can do something and then move on.  I'm afraid Hubby could get used to this. Nah, he really does like to cook and fortunately I like to eat.  We're a great team.  I think I'll keep him.

Say "Cheese!"

You have to be a nutzoid to come home from shopping, set up your groceries, and ...

TAKE A PICTURE!!!  I mean really; I take more pictures of my food and my pets than I do my own children.  I believe Kitzilla comes running when she hears the camera power on.

Welcome to the Strawberry Nut House.

Say "cheese"--darn, where's the cheese?!

There is a method to this madness:  I planned!!!  I woke up and decided "Today is the Day."  It's D-Day in the nuthouse.  For breakfast I'm trying out Weight Watchers Smart Ones for those days (like yesterday and the day before and the day before that and ...) when you don't have time to make a "smart" choice.  Breakfast is the meal of champions.  Or so they say.

Pull it out of the box and do not pull back the plastic.

Pop in the microwave.  See how easy and fast...3 minutes.

You can either eat right out of the container, but please don't eat this while driving.  I know you are in a rush, but scrambled eggs down the front of your clothing is not very appealing not to mention taking your eyes off the road is very dangerous!!

Or you can pull out a pretty plate and add some fruit...and a little low-fat caramel sauce...with a huge gulp of diet coke...hey, I said I was going against my grain; I never said I'd be perfect at it!  And voilà...

Note to self: don't ever let the low-fat caramel sauce seep over onto the eggs.  blah

All in all, a very good alternative to the fast food drive-thru.  Tomorrow I'll be trying out another fast breakfast.  After all, we want to be a champion, right?

P.S.

 Happy Birthday, "J" Grainiac!!!

Just a Quickie

Yesterday was a rushed day; today will be a rushed day.  I seem to be falling back into old habits where I'm rushed and don't have time to plan-- let alone think---about meals.  Boy and I have been roughing it without our #1 chef.  Hubby eats lunch and then decides what to have for dinner...and then makes it!  I'm the opposite; heck, I just ate; I have no idea what I want for dinner.  As you know I can't meal plan worth a hoot.  If I could, I probably would not be in this pant size!!  So today is rushed and I do mean rushed.  In addition to my already packed, crazy-busy day, we had a freeze last night.  Boy and I were hauling in plants.  I don't have many, but what I do have I want to keep!  Kitzilla and Co. were fascinated with all the stationary green things in the house last night.  You would have thought I was setting a feast before them.  I have a few tomato vines with tomatoes AND flowers on them so those babies went straight into the privacy of the privy.  Ditto for the green pepper plants.  I have a recipe in mind for them and it doesn't involve Kitzilla using it as a little green punching bag.  When all was said and done last night, I heaved ho all the plants into two bathrooms, dropped a full bowl of rainwater all over the hardwood floors, cussed, cried, and mopped.  I just cannot get ahead.

This morning we had little slimy antennae-ed slugs enjoying the great indoors.  So I'm on a round-up; following a slimy path and praying I don't step on one.  blaaah.  And before you ask; escargot is NOT on the menu today!

Welcome to my world....

Hello Little Slug, come out to play.

Good Little Slug.  Let's take a ride....flush!

Kitzilla's green punching bags.

Yum! Fresh tomatoes.

 

Somewhere in time

I had a huge crush on Christopher Reeves in my teens.  Who could forget Superman- the 1978 version?  My daughter and I watched Somewhere in Time and she exclaimed “that is the most depressing movie I’ve ever seen.”  Now tell me your heart doesn’t drop when you hear that theme song?  I told her “Yes, but isn’t he hunky-dory?"  She gagged “ewww, what,  he’s like Daddy’s age?”  Yeah, I guess it would be like my mom trying to get me to have romantic notions about Marlon Brando.  EWWWW

But this post isn’t about dead guys.  It’s about dead clocks.  Specifically dead clocks in my house!  Someone gave me a wise tip once about setting the clocks a few minutes ahead so I'd never be late.  You would think I could handle it, wouldn't you?  I didn't always have this problem.  My mom makes sure she is at the airport at least 2 hours before her flight takes off and she was doing this way before 9-11.  Sometime after taking Hubby's last name, all sense of time flew out the window.  I like to say "That's a Berry thing."  My sister-in-law and I can think up a whole list of "Berry-things" as a matter of fact.  

This morning I had a commitment and I didn't want to be late.  I checked the clock in my bedroom...it was blinking...I hadn't reset it since the power outage on Monday.  Who needs an alarm clock when a 10 pound cat with breath like water from a stagnant fish bowl and a cry that mimics fingernails on a chalkboard jumps on your belly every morning demanding breakfast?  Can we say headache and bad mood?!

blinking 5:57 p.m. or a.m.  Take your pick! Now you see it....

Now you don't!

So I padded down the hall to the kitchen to check the kitchen clock...

It's a ravioli time....somewhere!

Cute clock but this SOB is toying with me!  I change his batteries frequently and his time is either slowing down or speeding up.  Either way, it is ALWAYS wrong!!  Now that's-a not-a nice, Tubby!
The other clocks in the kitchen?  Check out the microwave...

Hasn't been reset since the power outage. I'm looking pretty lazy, huh?

Stove clock is never right because we use the timer and that is connected to the clock so the hands spin out of control when we go to set the timer!  You know, I'm kinda proud I make it to any function at all!

Thank God for cropping. This picture doesn't show whatever goop is on the stove!

I have 2 clocks that are the closest to the actual time of day it is.  Why I don't throw out all the other ones is beyond me.  I finally looked at them and realized I needed to hit the road, otherwise I was really going to be late.

So why blog about my inadequate clocks and my refusal to do anything about them?  Because I'm going against my grain and my grain tells me to ignore them and run around the house trying to find the correct time of day.  But going against my grain tells me I DON'T HAVE THE TIME to run around looking at every timepiece trying to remember if it is correct for me or correct for Indonesia.  Time is precious and although I can claim I exercised for the day by running through the house; it is not productive.  I'm all for being productive.  I even reset the bedroom clock!