There was a virtual avalanche of snowflake cookies in my LJ inbox! Thank you to tartary_lamb, lonelywalker, starfishchick, wolfshark, and cimera for thinking of us.

I should have acknowledged these before now, but for reasons that I'll go into in another post, it's been hard for me to do much of anything recently. But I am truly grateful for the snowflakes and for every one of you.

( Kittens and snowflakesCollapse )

M.

South Beach continues to go well. Now that we're in phase 2 the weight isn't dropping so rapidly (which is a fine and healthy thing) and we're sticking with it.

As a non-food reward for staying on track for six weeks, we're buying a Wii. And we need your help. We're getting the Wii console and Wii Fit Plus with the balance board. Could you share your Wii experiences with the class? Fave games, necessary accessories, rants, raves, etc?

Please and thank you.

In other news, Adam Lambert rocked the bejaysus out of the AMAs!!!

Last year, I posted about this cool alternative to the traditional Secret Santa exchange. Since people are now gearing up for their workplace/community festive events, I thought it was a good idea to post a reminder.

Here's how it works:

1. Everyone's name goes into a draw and each of you draws out someone's name.
   
2. You buy a toy that you think your giftee would have liked as a child. Something in the range of $10 to $20.
   
3. Wrap the toys -- don't put your name on the tag.
   
4. Exchange the gifts at a staff meeting/festive party and reveal who gave what. Hilarity ensues.
   
5. All the toys are then donated to your local Christmas Wish, Toys for Tots, or other charity.

Trust me, it's hilarious. Plus, if you don't have any kids on your holiday shopping list, it's a rare chance to visit the toy department. I also like the fact that --unlike traditional Secret Santa exchanges-- you don't end up taking home yet another well-intentioned tchotchke that you really don't need.

Enjoy!
M.

Been meaning to do this for ages -- some pictures of the feline gang...

( Cat pictures!Collapse )

I'm a single cat mom this week. K's at this conference in Chicago. Having her gone for a weekend is one thing. But trying to manage five cats AND make South Beach-friendly meals AND do laundry AND work an extra hour or so every night AND go to aquafit twice a week AND, AND, AND...

*is tired*

I also miss her like a mad missing thing.

This week on SB phase 1 is much easier. All the roughage isn't causing me the same stomach upset. We aren't weighing ourselves (mostly because I'm afraid to), but we have been checking our measurements. After the first week, I lost 1.5 inches off my waist and 2 inches off my hips. K lost more from her waist and less from her hips. Pretty damn cool, if you ask me.

And what they say is true: I'm really not craving the breads and pastas, etc. anymore. What we are both really longing for is an apple. I discovered these awesome Honey Crisp apples at the farmer's market a few weeks back and I'm salivating for one.

That said, we might do an extra week of phase 1 to account for the difficulties K has encountered while away from home.

This morning for breakfast, I tried a recipe from the South Beach Supercharged book for a Red Bean Mash. The book suggests taking some of the leftover mash, forming it into patties, and frying it up for breakfast.

So I had 2 red bean patties with a little grated low fat Jack cheese, a few drops of Frank's Chile Lime Hot Sauce, and a small tomato (because I didn't feel like looking for the salsa). It was pretty good, if a little too garlicky for first thing in the morning. I think next time I'll reduce the garlic from 3 cloves to 1 and maybe put some hot sauce right into the bean mash.

Last week, I riffed off of a recipe from Mollie Katzen's Vegetable Dishes I Can't Live Without. She calls them Spaghetti Squash pancakes. You make a batter, like for latkes, replacing grated potatoes with spaghetti squash. It seemed a little too eggy for me, but it gave me the idea to try to make hash brown patties with the squash. It worked pretty well! I just dumped the squash into a linen tea towel and wrung out most of the liquid. Then I formed the squash into patties and browned them on the cast iron pan with a little olive oil. They were pretty tasty -- especially topped with a slice of back bacon.

I have to say, right now the most difficult part of the diet is getting used to making different kinds of food. And not having any fruit. Eventually, this will become routine and I won't spend so much time having to think about each meal. And it will be easier in phase 2 when we can start re-introducing carbs...like APPLES!!

M.

We're not dead. Not even a little bit. Just took a posting sabbatical because, for awhile there, I couldn't post anything without it turning into a depressing pity party.

I'm a little better now and so is K.

We now have 5 cats. That's three, plus TWO MORE. ( ZPMs would be easier to feedCollapse )


In other news we started the South Beach Diet on Monday.( Wandering around shrieking BREAD! like a zombie shrieks BRAINS!Collapse )

Today, I feel terrific. I'm wearing a pretty outfit and my hair (which I'm growing out) looks good. Can't really ask for much more. That's the WeevilView for now. We have been reading y'all (well, mostly K reads stuff out to me and I occasionally ask her to comment) and we still love you.

M.

1) What author do you own the most books by?

K & M: We own an awful lot of Georgette Heyers. K also has almost a complete set of Angela Thirkell.

2) What book do you own the most copies of?

K & M: Homicide: A Year on the Killing Streets.

3) With what fictional character are you secretly in love?

K: Byerly Vorrutyer is my secret gay boyfriend.
M: ...

( In which K reveals the depths of her philistinismCollapse )

jenab is hosting a long weekend kissing multifandom fic battle. Go forth and post your prompts until Friday July 31 at midnight EST.

CAT ON THE BED
episode the first

(Ben jumps on the bed like the hounds of hell are after him)

M: Tonight's guest cat is...Ben!

(Ben eats some Pringle crumbs that have been left on the bed by someone who shall remain nameless)

M: Ben, can you tell us a little about yourself?

Ben: I have testicles! which is a lie

M: Anything else you'd like to share with our audience?

Ben: Man cats have testicles! I eat Pringles!

M: Sadly, yes, you do. (glares at K, the Pringle enabler)

(Ben jumps down)

M: So...that was Ben. Stay tuned tomorrow for more exciting discussions of testicles! And possibly a demonstration of how to keep them clean with furious grooming.

(cue theme music, which sounds suspiciously like a Bhangra version of the closing theme from "I Love Lucy").

• liviapenn has posted her clips from the production of Amok Time in a Portland park. This is hilarious. Especially the final scene. It would be so cool if this catches on, like Shakespeare in the Park. I would definitely sit on grass in High Park to see something like this.
  
  
• If you haven't checked out We Choose the Moon yet, get over there. Liftoff is less than an hour away.
  
  
• I wish someone would give me some work to do. *is bored*
  
  
• I began taking transit to work last month. I don't like it very much (SO. CROWDED.), but it has given me more time to read. Also reading more at home these days. I'm all over the Austenesque with the Stephanie Barron Jane Austen mysteries, modern re-tellings, and jumped up fanfic like Mr. Darcy's Diary. Also re-reading Aubrey/Maturin. It's giving me a mad urge to write something Regency-ish myself.
  
  
• The bedroom redecorating saga continues, but the end is in sight. The curtains arrived and have been hung (GORGEOUS!). This evening we'll shift some furniture, install the lamps, and maybe even sleep in there tonight. Pictures to come.
  
  
• We are deeply honoured to have received nominations for "Oatmeal" and "Clean" in the ncis_awards. This is extremely cool as we've never been nominated for a fic award before.
  
  
• Huzzah for carlanime, pathology_doc, and their wondrous Creation!
  
  
• Thinking a lot about Tenacious today. I'm wearing a top that I bought specifically for when I would start to show. It's not a maternity top, just one of those empire waisted pretty summer tops. It looks lovely, although my belly is sadly very flat under the floaty paisley fabric. Following the Apollo 11 mission on Twitter is also making me kind of sad because K and I used a lot of NASAspeak in relation to trying to get pregnant:
  
  Go for launch = Insemination scheduled.
  We have cleared the tower = Positive pregnancy test.
  
  You get the idea. Anyway, it's kind of sad-making. Also, I'm a little PMS-y. I really wish I could get some busy-work to do!!!
  
  
• GO transit is running weekend and holiday trains from Union Station in Toronto to Niagara Falls. I think it's a really cool idea...except it's freaking expensive! $60 round-trip per person! Not exactly a cost-effective alternative to driving. Grrr.
  
  
• That's about it for now.

M.