Peace on Earth

Izzy always gets a little nerved up when the kitten throws himself at her for a nap. It's like she's afraid to move until she finally can't stay awake anymore and passes out. For his part, Tiberius has no clue that not everyone adores him and so doesn't think twice about sauntering up to any of the other animals in the house and plopping down for a snooze. It makes for good photo ops though.

Playing with iLife 11

Mister C just added iLife 11 to my laptop. It included lots of new features for iPhoto which I think are pretty fun. So far I've only played around with making cards and themed postcards to send to friends.

Like so...



It took me just a few minutes to pull together those photos and arrange them on the cork-board background and send it to my friend A. She suggested I throw it out here so all (3) of my readers could see what fun I was having (also, what a moron I have for a cat.) I'm thinking pretty heavily about using this to put together our Christmas cards as well. We'll see how motivated I am.

Anyway, this is just the tip of the iceberg for what you can do with this stuff. I wish I was getting paid to say I love my Mac because it would totally be true. And that would be on a normal day. The folks over at Apple have done a superb job with this newest setup which includes iPhoto, the thing I use the most.

They've also added some really cool things to iMovie, including the ability to make a "trailer" of your movies. It's pretty awesome. We don't have very many videos, I always had the regular camera in my hands so recording was left up to Mister C. But I might be able to throw a few things together from what we do have. I'll have to work on that. I wish I had more now. Also, it should be noted that in the big podcast Apple did where they show how to make the trailers, their home video footage was of a different caliber than mine. It's pretty easy to make a rafting trip with friends or a tour of Europe look cool. A little more work is required to make the family dinner at Christmas come across as exotic and exciting. Just sayin'.

The upgrades to GarageBand don't make me smile as much. Mostly it looks like they've added the ability to edit your recordings to the point where if you're a sucky musician, you'll sound good. Which is great. Until you have to play without your pre-recorded and fixed up session. I'm way too much of a music purist to put up with that. I say practice until you're awesome, then get a recording. Don't make your crappy recording sound good, that's just lame.

Anyway, cool software that's a lot of fun to play around with.

Made me smile

Awesome

Somebody's Looking Pretty Smug About Something

Wonder what he did.

Happy Thanksgiving!

I hope you'll be spending the day with family and/or friends. I hope you have a great meal, animated conversations and an entirely wonderful day. I am so very grateful for the people in my life and that I get to spend time with them gathered around my table. The fact that there will be whipped cream is just a bonus.

Turkey Trot 2010

Pre-race excitement



At the starting line doing some stretching



Running up to high five Mister C at the end



He didn't win, but just like with everything else he does, he did it with gusto.

Nebraska vs Texas A&M, WTF?

Unbelievable. Texas referees strike again. There's absolutely no question that some of the penalties called against Nebraska were warranted. But not all of them. And the roughing the passer call in the fourth quarter was insane. There's no way that deserved a penalty. Pathetic. I call unsportsmanlike conduct.

The horror!

I'm watching a kitchen renovation on the DIY channel. The homeowners just replaced the perfect, original, real wood 1952 cabinets with black press-board looking ones. It's like watching a horror film where you know how it's going to end but you just can't stop watching. I think I just acquired a twitch.

Progress, not perfection

I haven't really said a whole lot on here about changing my lifestyle via diet and exercise. At least not the diet side of things other than to mention the fresh fruits and veggies I pick up each week. I've just sort of plodded along quietly, doing my thing.

Mostly it's been a slow process and I don't really notice any major difference in how I look. How I feel is quite a bit better than previously. I'm a lot more energetic than I was. I rarely take naps in the middle of the afternoon anymore. Sad to say that was becoming an almost daily thing for a while there. I've been able to hike the small side of a nearby mini-mountain without stopping or being passed repeatedly by everyone under the sun. And my clothes are fitting better.

At the beginning of the process, I thought I should take a picture for documentation purposes. Unlike what a lot of people do, I didn't take the picture in an outfit that currently fit, but in one that I wanted to get back into. It was a tough first picture. After seeing the picture, I decided to take a new picture in the same outfit every time I lose ten pounds. Today, I got to take my third picture in the series, which means that I've lost twenty pounds to date. While I still have quite a bit more to go, I will say that at least this time I could breathe in the outfit. And while I'm nowhere near perfection, at least I'm seeing progress.

Ummm....

So Master J has been going through the classes for his first communion. Today we participated in a special lunch. We were responsible for bringing the pulled pork as well helping with the set up. It was a lovely get together, mostly due to another couple that we've met through the classes.

But that's not what this is about.

At the end of the meal, the pastor had all of the kids go up to try a communion wafer and the wine. I suppose he didn't want any horrified children at the altar next Sunday and so wanted to prepare them for the taste.

Most of the kids drank the wine and complained. My child drank it and commented that it wasn't bad but that it had an "aftertaste". No big deal. However, there was one child who, after seeing the reactions of the other children, decided she wanted nothing to do with trying the wine. At which point my child pipes up with "I'll drink hers!"

And he did.

Furthermore, he declared that he wanted to keep the little cup that the wine was given to him in "to remember the first time I ever drank wine".

I can see the phrase "Hi, I'm Master J, and I'm an alcoholic" in the boy's future.

Veterans Day

Thank you.

And so it begins

I hit a weight loss plateau yesterday. I do my weigh ins on Tuesdays and this week? I didn't lose an ounce. So today I did what I said I would do once I hit my first plateau, I exercised. I know, I'll give you a minute to recover from the shock.

I headed out to the nearby mini-mountain and started walking the trail backwards. That is to say, starting at what is usually the end for me, not me physically walking backwards. Although come to think of it that would probably be really effective for working out my legs. If I didn't kill myself in the process.

Anyway, I did the trail backwards and then (since I was so intent on WORKING OUT!!!) I decided to run the downhill portions. Which worked great. Except for those first fifty steps wherein I was forced to channel a thug as I constantly had to pull up my pants to prevent a wardrobe malfunction. Once I realized there was no way I could make any kind of progress while my pants insisted on heading for lower altitude, I pulled off the trail and tied the heck out of the drawstring to make them stay put. Then started again. After I got around the whole trail (with the exception of the highest peak part, I'm not a complete idiot), I decided to walk the steps.

There's an outdoor theater type thing where Easter sunrise service is held for some church and it's right at the bottom of the mountain. There are about ten tiers of stone and concrete slab seating. So I started at the bottom and walked up, walked a few feet sideways and then walked down again. I did this across the whole seating area. This took about fifteen minutes and really works out the thighs. I know this because I believe I could smell them burning up. Although that also could have just been friction.

Then, because I have no sense at all, I decided I still needed "more". So I put my jacket (which I totally didn't need) and my water into my car and started walking on the park road that leads to another parking lot. When I got there, I ran back to my car. And then I drove home. As a side note, it is somewhat difficult to drive a standard when your legs start really shaking.

Keeping in mind that my normal level of exertion is somewhere between "none" and "seriously? I have to walk all the way to the fridge myself?" my suspicion is that I'm going to be feeling this tomorrow. If you don't hear from me, it's most likely because I can't crawl to my computer.

Weston, Missouri Funeral NOT interrupted

The town of Weston, Missouri pulled together to allow the family of a fallen soldier to bury their son in peace. We need more of this.

I pulled this video from
Fox4kc.com

While I understand that this man has the right to do what he does, I am deeply saddened (and exceedingly pissed off) that he chooses to do so in a way that is so very disrespectful of both the soldiers and their families. He may have the legal right, but he does not truly have the right to use their tragedy to bring attention to himself.

Southerners? A little help, please.

I need some help from my Southern readers, or anyone with a background in the cooking that emanates from that portion of the country.

Here's the deal...

You guys know that every Saturday I pick up my fruits and vegetables from the co-op. This week, the basket included collard greens. I know approximately how to cook them in the traditional method. I also know that cooking a mess of greens traditionally will not likely be on my diet plan. I'm fairly certain that bacon fat and/or ham hocks are not considered "healthy".

Is there any possible method for preparing collard greens without the high fat? One that tastes great as well? I thought about trying to slip it into a salad all casual like and pretending not to realize what it was ("No honey, I don't know why the lettuce is so bitter today.") I just can't do that to my family. Plus, I totally can't lie with a straight face.

So, any input would be appreciated. A decent, healthy version of a traditional recipe shouldn't be that hard to come up with can it?

Cliche Day

Yes, there's actually a day set aside for cliches. Which is perfect for the day after yesterday's tide turning voting. So here goes...

God willing (and the creek don't rise) there's finally a glimmer of hope regarding the direction this country is going. I'm hoping against hope and keeping my fingers crossed that those newly elected (and returning) to office will be able to turn this thing around. To get out of the red and into the black. It's mission critical that they do, although, it might be an uphill battle.

Right now, we're still waiting for the dust to settle and as we know, Rome wasn't built in a day. But if they put their noses to the grindstone and take care of the business at hand (even if it means burning the midnight oil) we might just see the light at the end of the tunnel.

When all is said and done, we can only hope the hand off will go smoothly with everyone keeping in mind that a house divided against itself cannot stand.



*I can't figure out how to do the little accent mark above the e in cliche without making it look like I'm a clueless dolt who's haphazardly adding hyphens for no apparent reason so I left it out.

Get out and vote

That is all.

Who Knew?

November is National Pomegranate Month. And I just happen to have a half dozen pomegranates in my refrigerator currently. I picked them up the last two Saturdays with the rest of my fruits and vegetables. The only problem is that I have no idea what to do with them.

From what little I've read, what I've determined is that they:

1. Are very seedy
2. Squirt when you cut into them
3. Stain your clothes

So, yeaaahhh, not really sure whether I want to deal with them or not. If anyone would like to dispute the above and tell me why (and how) I should consume this "fruit of the month", please feel free. I'm open to suggestions because right now they're just sucking up space in my fridge.