Look I'm totally famous and trendy!

http://lifestyle.msn.com/relationships/staticslideshowglamour.aspx?cp-documentid=26242722&gt1=39092

Check out the second ring in the slideshow.  Patrick was so ahead of the times.  Of course mine is white gold, not yellow so it's way cooler. ;)

UPDATE:  Oh, I see how it is.  No one cares that my ring is like totally famous now and was featured in an article/slideshow on the msn homepage.  Well I thought it was cool....and my diamond is bigger. :-P  

Tom Petty Rocks

Here's a partial post I wrote back in September and never got back to.  Sorry!


This past Tuesday Patrick and I were able to attend our third Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers concert in Fairpark (outdoor partially covered theater with chair and lawn seating in Dallas).  It was awesome.  The first time we saw him was at this same venue.  The auditorium itself is small enough that there really are no bad seats. You're close enough to see him on stage without the big monitors, though those are fun to look at too.  The second time we saw him was at the American Airlines Center.  That was still cool, but a  much different experience.  Think 18,000 people vs. 2000.  The more intimate venue is amazing.  It's fun to hear your favorite songs on the radio, but way more awesome to hear them live with over 2000 people all singing along.

Updates..ish...

So I changed my blog design per Margie's dream request.... ;)  Not much going on here.  I may change some more stuff on my blog next week, but then again maybe not.   We've been enjoying watching Castle.  We're all caught up now which kind of sucks since we have to wait for a new episode every week...not to mention the weeks of reruns they do during the holidays.  Though I did see on my facebook Castle page that Castle and Beckett are finally going to kiss in a January episode.  So that will be awesome.  Most awesome moment of the show was when Castle dressed up as a space cowboy in the Halloween episode one season.  He looked just like his character from firefly.  Then Alexa's all; "what are you supposed to be?" and he's all; "a space cowboy!" and she's all; "First, there are no cows in space and second didn't you wear that like five years ago?"  That was hilarious.  Okay, well I have to get Isabelle from school so no more updates for you! :)

Giving up Chocolate: Day Fourteen

Well here it is: Judgement Day.  I am proud to say that today I totally and completely abstained from chocolate.  Not only that, but the only "treat" I had was one sliced peach and one banana with a little whipped cream on top.  See?  I do so much better when no one is here to eat with me.  I guess that means I'm a social eater...and I eat when I get bored...hmm  I wonder how that works?  Anyway, yay me!

On the other hand:  I didn't make it the full two weeks, in fact I think it was only three of the fourteen days that I managed without chocolate, so that's kind of a bummer.  I did not notice any real improvement in my skin.  One patch on my pinky finger seems to have cleared up mostly, but a couple of patches on my leg have flared again, so no real change.  Of course, I didn't really do the no chocolate thing, so who knows if that would have made a difference or not?  I'm going to try and consciously cut back on chocolate in particular for the next little bit and see if that helps.  However I probably won't be chronicle-ing (?) it every day on here.  Much to the disappointment of my loyal fans I'm sure. ;)

So Patrick is gone.  This means I can watch whatever I want in the evening.  Generally this means all of the watch instantly chick flicks I have stored up on netflix.  Tonight I started watching "Lost in Austen."  I got through the first fifteen minutes and had to stop it as I wasn't really feeling it and the main girls voice was really freaking annoying.   Although the brief glimpse I caught of Mr. Darcy did look promising, so maybe I'll have to try again.  What I ended up watching was called "New in Town" starring Renee Zellweger and Harry Connick Jr.  I thought, hey HCJ is hot and I like Bridget Jones so it should be good right?  Wrong.  I think Renee Zellweger's face is kind of funny looking.  All through the show I kept thinking she looked like Christina Applegate after her face got burned by acid or something and they had to do reconstructive surgery, but it didn't really turn out so good.  Also Mr. Jr was not looking so hot in this.  He had a very distinct belly overhanging his jeans and his facial hair, which I usually like, just made him look unkempt.  That added to the layers of clothing worn for the Minnesota weather made him look more like he was playing a homeless person then the romantic lead in a "comedy."  (It wasn't very funny either...all of the women folk they were mocking reminded me of several people that I knew, which I found kind of insulting) What is really funny is that I seem to be going through Torchwood withdrawal.  It really wasn't that great of a show, but I guess I really liked it as I keep wanting to watch episodes of it again.  I've refrained so far as I don't want to waste my free tv time re-watching stuff, but I may have to revisit it at least once before Patrick comes back.  I think I really liked the character of Gwen Cooper on that show...aside from the whole two-timing side plot in the first season....and the total and utter frustration I felt from her and Jack NEVER hooking up...even for a second....yes I know I was just complaining about her infidelity, but still, it's worse then Bones.  I was going to say or House, but House and Cuddy totally hooked up at the end of last season.  I may have to watch the last five minutes of that episode again before the new season starts.  It will be good to get all of our shows going again.  I know it's pathetic to live through television, but at least it adds a little excitement to life.  So by the end of the month (I think) we'll have House, Bones, Glee (I will anyway, unless I can convince Patrick...I did make him watch the last 4-5 episodes so maybe he'll be willing), Vampire Diaries, and Supernatural.  That takes up nearly every night of the week, so at least we have something to look forward to.  True Blood is over now, but I haven't seen it yet as Patrick is gone.  We've also been talking of trying out the show Castle, with Nathan Fillion of Firefly fame.  I've heard it's good....also Warehouse 13, Psych, and V.  Oh and we also have to finish the seventh season of Buffy that we finally started.  It kind of got put on hold when we started watching Torchwood.  This is my fault as I've seen it before and thought it was the suckiest season of Buffy.  But we do get to see crazy Spike which will be fun after seeing him crazy and omnisexual on Torchwood...  Anyway, I digress.  No chocolate.  Good. :)

(Crazy Spike from the future)

(Crazy Spike from 2002)

Giving up Chocolate: Day Thirteen

Patrick leaves and the chocolate disappears...I wonder if there's a correlation there?  Patrick left this morning to drive to New York and install a staircase with his boss.  Leaving me here alone with the three crazies...who all felt the need to wake up at 6am today.  Man did that suck.  Anyway, no chocolate today, though Isabelle did request brownies for dessert, but I said no.   The reason being (I mean aside from the no chocolate thing) that Patrick thoughtfully bought us some of those ready-to-bake cinnamon rolls to have today.  When he bought them he forgot he was leaving at the crack of dawn and thus wouldn't get any.  His plan was to make them for breakfast.  I made them for lunch.  ;)  The kids also had tomato soup, so I'm not that bad...they each had one roll, Henry had half and I had four and a half...I was only going to have one, it just didn't work out that way.  Anyway I saved two for the kids to have for dessert this evening, but when James and I got up from our naps I found only an empty bag.  Isabelle thoughtfully drew a picture to tell me what happened....in it she's taking a roll out of a bag with two rolls inside...then she's taking a roll out of a bag with only one inside.  So James didn't get another one.  Poor baby.  So I guess today was a success on the chocolate front, but a fail in the battle of the bulge, if you know what I mean. ;)

Side note:  had all three kids by myself at church today.  Man did that suck.  I don't know how mom did it with the five of us...and then they kept calling her to be the Sacrament Meeting chorister!  I would have been really mad/annoyed/etc...if they did that.  I would have said; "don't you see me sitting alone with my five kids?  Do you really think they can behave by themselves?"  But I never remember he complaining, so I guess she was okay with it.  Of course this is probably one of the reasons we always sat on the second row.  So yeah, anyway I was ready to go sit out in the foyer after trying to muffle James shrieks during the sacrament prayer, but as we were getting ready to leave my nice visiting teacher came and sat by us and blocked the kids in on the other end of the row so they couldn't get out.  So after finding some crayons and paper, they weren't so bad after that.  Then on the way to primary (while juggling car seat (with baby), board, easel, church bag, diaper bag, tape, 4 year old, and toddler) my friend stopped me in the hall and offered to take Henry.  I'm not sure if she meant right then or for the rest of church but I assumed the rest of church as she took him and walked off.  That was very nice as I was planning to just let him crawl around bugging people in primary, which probably wouldn't have worked out so well.  Hopefully Patrick will be back by next week (he should be) and I won't have to do that again for awhile...though he said it sounds like they're going to be going back at least two or three more times.  I told him he should take me with him one time.  Or better yet, I should go somewhere for a week and he should watch the kids.  Who wants to come?  I'm not sure where we'll go but there will be no babies!  We'd better do it soon though before another one finds it's way into my uterus (I don't know how they keep getting in there...)  So any takers?  

Giving up Chocolate: Day Twelve

I didn't get enough sleep last night...only like five hours.  I know lots of you get by on less than that but I'm not used to it and I'm falling over this evening.  Patrick is leaving tomorrow to go to New York for like a week and I'm planning on not making any treats while he is gone.  So that's my excuse. ;)  He brought home some "Ghirardelli Dark Chocolate and Raspberry Filling" tonight and we had that while watching the last episode of Torchwood.  It was really depressing (the show not the chocolate...although being overly full of the chicken tenders we had at dinner didn't help I'm sure).  I'm glad they're making another one, hopefully everyone won't die.  I think it would be funny if Qwen named her baby after Jack and then he comes back and is all "so you named your baby after me?" and she's all "well you said you were never coming back..."

I also had left over French Toast with whipped cream for a mid-morning snack....and then Patrick and I had left over bacon and cheese while watching the previous episodes of Torchwood this afternoon.  Very healthy, I know.  But at least we finished the show so I won't be waiting to watch it while he's gone...like the finale of True Blood tomorrow night I have to wait a week to watch...or the new episode of Vampire Diaries Thursday.  I could watch them without him, but it's fun to watch it together for the first time.  Okay, now it's ten o'clock and I'm going to bed.  Sorry no funny stories about chicken butts today. ;)

Giving up Chocolate: Day Eleven

 I don't want to talk about it.  Really it wasn't that bad.  I had one bite of my daughter's Fiber One bar with chocolate chips before I gave the rest to my husband....and then this evening I had half a box of Junior Mints.  I forgot they were chocolate until after I was already sick to the stomach from eating too many.  Of course the really bad part was the four pieces of pumpkin pie I had...plus the French Toast drenched in syrup and whipped cream we had for dinner.  Yeah I suck.  Oh...I guess there were some strawberries on the French Toast, so that means they were totally healthy...and we used eggs fresh from our chicken's butts, so that's like all natural right?  ;)  Yeah they've started laying eggs.  It's kinda cool/gross.

Giving up Chocolate: Day Ten

Bah!   So I said the cookies were all gone.  Apparently I was wrong.  There were two left.  They're gone now.  We won't discuss their final destination.  I also had a fruit smoothie today (yum!) and a piece of pumpkin pie (not so yum as I discovered the kids kiped the can of whip cream and thus had none for my pie...luckily I'm going to the store tomorrow so I can get more).   Tomorrow I have to go into Denton for my allergy shots.  I've been going on Mondays, but since Isabelle started school that just doesn't work anymore.  It takes too long to go while she's in school and I have two gym classes Monday and Wednesday mornings, so Friday it is!  Although I think I'm going to have to leave pretty early to get there, to the store, and back in time for her to eat lunch and get to school.  She needs to be there by 12:20 and Denton is 45 minutes one way....so I guess we'll be leaving at like 8am?  Wow that sucks.  I guess I should go to bed then so I don't fall asleep and kill us all. :)

Side note:  Vampire Diaries premiered tonight, so we watched the finale from last season to catch up to watch the new episode on the computer tomorrow.  After that we watched the first episode of Torchwood series 3.  Way more exciting than teen angst, even with the vampires.   If you've never watched Vampire Diaries, let me tell you it is cheese-a-riffic.   Patrick and I can almost say the lines before the characters do as they are so predictable.  But Damon's charming homicidal tendencies lend the the show some appeal, so we watch.  Plus Katherine's coming back so we get to see the actress that plays Elena be totally evil.  Fun, fun. :)

PS:  I think I'm starting to see why I'm not losing any weight despite all of the exercise...you may think this is me going crazy from chocolate withdrawal, but really I eat like this all the time.  It's amazing I don't weigh a million pounds.  I'm just saying. ;)

Giving up Chocolate: Day Nine

Fail.  While I did give the kids half of the left over cookies, I ate the other half...and this was after I was so excited this morning for my scale finally breaking the 150 mark.  It has only done this once or twice before and that was a couple of months ago when I was doing much better, so I was hoping this was the start of another downward trend.  Well let me tell you it's back above it now.  Stupid cookies.  On a side note.  We've been watching Torchwood.  Having just finished series 2 (they call them "series" in the UK not "seasons" weirdos), we watched the crossover two part series 4 finale of Doctor Who so we would be all caught up when we start series 3...which is really a miniseries, not a whole series.  Plus we probably can't watch it all before Patrick leaves to New York on Sunday, so that will suck.  The reason being tomorrow we have to rewatch the finale from last season's Vampire Diaries so that we can be all prepared for the premier of this season which should be up Friday.  It starts seconds after the cliff hanger ending from last season so I thought we should refresh.  Plus I wanted to see Damon and Elena kiss again 'cuz he's totally hot...even though he's so not a nice guy.  (Which I guess I would be more worried about if i had a teenage daughter watching this....the jerk that murders people is the 'cool' one while the nice brother is a dork)  Oh yeah, so we watched Doctor Who.  That show is awesome.  It's so much funnier than Torchwood, of course I know they're supposed to be different types of shows but still.  I also liked the German-speaking Daleks; "Exterminaten, Exterminaten!"  HI-larious.  and then at the end when everyone left and the Doctor was so alone....poor David Tennant.  He looked like he was going to cry when he left Rose with the other Doctor....and then all of his companions were threatening global destruction and he was so sad...no wonder he didn't take any more companions until after he regenerated.  *sigh*

So yeah...I had chocolate.  But now the cookies are gone so I shouldn't be eating any more tomorrow.  Plus since Patrick is going to be out of town, next week should go better as I always seem to eat more sweets when he's here then when he's not.  He was gone for three weeks in June and I lost nearly five pounds, so that was nice.   Maybe I can lose a couple next week. ;)

Giving up Chocolate: Day Eight

Just when you think you're in the clear,  BOOM, chocolate circles around and ambushes you from behind.  I was doing so good today.  I was experimenting with a technique described in this book I'm reading "Health at Every Size" by Dr. Janet Bacon.  In it you eat what you want, when you're hungry, and then stop once you're full.  Crazy right?  Anyway I was still avoiding chocolate and doing pretty well.  I have been consistently back down to my pre-August weight for two days now and had just started to consider those extra three pounds a bad dream when it happened;  I came home from the gym starving.  I told Patrick that I was going to make these delicious oatmeal, chocolate chip, pecan, craisin, vegan cookies we'd had before, only without the chocolate chips.  Well as soon as I finished my dinner I knew that was a bad idea as, per my books instructions, I was listening to my body and it was saying that it was full.  Maybe even a little over full.  But a promise is a promise (and an excuse is an excuse) and I started making the cookies anyway.  I reasoned that I wasn't going to put chocolate chips in and I was only going to have one anyway, so it would be okay.  *sigh*  What an optimistic fool I was.  Before I had even finished adding all of the ingredients I was eating the cookie dough out of the bowl (no eggs so it was okay...not that I've let that stop me in the past, but you know).  I had added all of the other ingredients and was remembering how incredibly delicious these cookies were last time we had them...when they had chocolate chips in them.  I'm sure they would have been fine without them, but I impulsively grabbed the bag from the cupboard and dumped some in....and ate some more dough, this time with chocolate chips.

As I started spooning them onto the pan I argued with myself over whether or not I should cook the whole batch or save the dough in the fridge for later.  I thought that if I cooked them all then I would may eat too many, but I also knew from past experience that if I only cooked a dozen there was a good chance that Patrick and I would completely finish off the pan.  I decided to chance it.  I cooked 14 cookies (I managed to squeeze an extra two onto the pan) and saved the rest of the dough in the fridge (where I'm sure it will haunt me tomorrow).  Once out of the oven (and now full of dinner and cookie dough) I once again told myself that I would only be eating one.  The problem with this being that even after I carefully selected the "best" one for me to consume and then ate it slowly (or so it seemed to me) Patrick had yet to take even one bite from his first.  So then when he finally did get around to his cookie I wanted another so that I would be eating one with him.  And so it continued.  It probably didn't help that I brought the cooling rack of cookies over to the computer desk for easier access while we watched Torchwood.   We finished them off.  Henry had two, Patrick had 6.5, and I had 5.5 (well honestly I think I'm the one that had 6.5, but we've decided it was him as neither one of us is completely sure).  So that added to the hearty meatloaf as well as the four pieces of, albeit homemade, pizza I had today brought my calorie count up to a whopping 3020.  To keep this in perspective I aim to keep it under 1500 every day.  So that sucked.  So much for listening to my bodies cues...and now I have the rest of the cookie dough lurking in the fridge for me to find tomorrow.  Maybe I can convince the kids to eat it all...

Giving up Chocolate: Day Seven

Hurray!  No chocolate for me!  I almost gave in today at the Dollar General.  I had to run in for bread and milk. I went straight to the back for the milk and then was making a beeline for the bread without looking to either side of me, when I had the thought that maybe I should grab a snack for our picnic (the reason for the bread run).  I briefly considered the cookies in the cookie aisle and even squished a pkg of chocolate chips cookies to see how soft they were before I caught myself and headed over to the bread.  If I don't need chocolate the kids don't need it.  Besides, Isabelle always says it hurts her tummy (maybe she's allergic too?).  I also looked at the truffles by the cash register again (I only saw the yucky white chocolate kind), and was briefly tempted by the dark chocolate Reese's Peanut Butter cups, but I persevered and bought nothing but the bread and milk I came for.  That was an act of will power in itself as I always seem to find 5-10 other things I "need" when I go to the store.  So yay me!  We had homemade pizza for dinner tonight and I had one too many slices, but at least I didn't have chocolate or sweets...well, I had half of a blueberry muffin, but that was only 75 calories.  :) Plus it had blueberries...or a reasonable facsimile, so hey fruit right?

Today was Labor Day and Patrick didn't go in to work at all.   It was awesome as he usually has some project he's working on that he needs to go into work for even on weekends and holidays, but today he stayed home.  This meant I got to go to my gym classes (which was up in the air as my sitter couldn't come today) and we planned a family picnic at the park here in Collinsville.  It's a very small park, but they have some fun toys, my favorite being the teeter totters (at least when Patrick rides with me).  It's crazy that parks the world over have been removing teeter totters and merry-go-rounds for years, but ours just installed them this past year.  Yay small towns that don't care about lawsuits or injuries!  We packed a picnic lunch (I had roast chicken, spinach, tomato, cheese, and carrots, the kids had pb&j's) in the cool picnic basket we bought last year at a yard sale as well as the Dora and Spiderman  kites I impulsively bought for the kids at one of my Dollar General runs a couple of months ago.  We haven't had a chance to fly them until now and today was perfect.  Just windy enough to get them up easily, but not so windy they got away from you.  We even let Henry crawl around on the grass in his stink bug position (hands and feet, bum up in the air).  So yay for us.  No chocolate and I get to be a good mom today.

Giving up Chocolate: Day Six

Success for reals!  No chocolate....however I did have a blueberry muffin, 1.5 strawberry shortcakes (?) with whipped cream, and a slice of apple pie.  So....once again, good for the chocolate thing, bad for the weight thing.  Oh well.   Sorry, no fun stories today. :(
   Although, as an aside.  I was looking for pics of strawberry shortcake and nearly every one of them was some variation of this:

  With a bottom and a top like a sandwich with strawberries and whipped cream in the middle.  I've never made it this way.  Does everyone else do it like this?  We do it more like the pic at the top with the shortcake on the bottom and then piles of strawberries and whipped cream on top.  Most often the shortcake is torn into pieces too, so it's not even whole like in the picture.  Am I doing it wrong then?  (Not that this means I'll change, but I am curious.)

Giving up Chocolate: Day Five

Success!  ish....okay I took three bites of leftover brownie, but that totally shouldn't count.  I also gaurded the remaining Nazi Pie with my life so that Patrick and I could have it for dessert tonight...and then went to the store and bought the makings of strawberry shortcake.  However, after a very hearty dinner of meatloaf, potatoes, and carrots, neither of us felt at all like eating, so Patrick had a popsicle and I abstained.  We'll see if this is a sign of things to come.  Now, I hate to leave you with no tantalizing picture of chocolate, so here is a pic of the totally delicious S'Mores Cookie Bars I've made in the past.  They are really, really, really, really bad for you...and just as good. ;)

 Let me know if you want the recipe. ;)

Giving up Chocolate: Day Four

Maybe I should just retitle this my "Chronicle of Chocolate Consumption" as I don't seem to be making any inroads into the whole "giving up" aspect.   So today, I made brownies for the neighbors.  Again.  This time I vowed to take them over the second I saw her SUV drive up.  Of course as I was mixing the batter I had to have a little taste.  Just a little.  Then I poured it into the pan...and had another taste, and another...let's just say I hope the oven killed off any germs I left in there 'cuz I had a lot of "tastes."  Once the brownies came out of the oven I put them on top of the stove to cool.  I ignored them for some time as they did this.  I watched a show on the computer, got the songs ready for primary, put James down for a nap, put Henry down...I didn't even cut the brownies because I knew that as soon as I did this I would want to snitch, so I didn't walk near them until they were completely cooled off like two hours later. 
   
I sat at the computer doing some waste of time thing or another, purposefully not thinking about the brownies.  I thought I was doing pretty well right up until I got out of my chair, marched over there and cut a row, eating one and sitting back down without thinking twice about it.  See apparently I had been thinking about it subconsciously and had decided that one wouldn't hurt without telling my conscious brain...my id and superego were not communicating I guess.  Anyway, I only ate one.  I was so proud of myself.  Then I went and picked up Isabelle from school and when she got home she wanted a snack.  Being the generous mother that I am I offered a brownie.  No sooner had I given her a brownie then my sneaky hand snatched up another and shoved it in my mouth before I could protest.  I felt like Ash from the Evil Dead movies where his hand is possessed and bashing him over the head with plates.  Anyway, so, while my mouth was busy chewing I quickly got out a plate, cut up the rest of the brownies and started stacking them on there as quick as I could before my hand got any ideas.  Unfortunately I wasn't going fast enough as my hand managed to shove another two into my mouth before I could get the plate covered in saran wrap.  But once that was done and all of the stray bits were taken care of (ie I ate those too) I was able to sit and be still.  I even managed to turn down an offer of yet another brownie this evening when I went to our neighbors to drop them off.  See I can say no! ;)  

You see I think this sort of undertaking requires a certain amount of willpower exercised while in just the right state of mind.  If either of these are out of whack it's not going to be a good day.  The problem today, for example was, I believe, the Nazi Applie Pie I had for breakfast....followed by the half slice I had at lunch, and the other half slice I had for a mid afternoon snack.  I mean once you start your day with a 377 calorie piece of pie you've got to wonder why you should even bother trying to eat healthy the rest of the day.  I tend to be of the attitude that if I've already screwed up that bad before lunch I'd rather just toss the whole day out the window and start again tomorrow.  This is one of my biggest problems when it comes to weight loss as I hate cooking first thing in the morning and so tend to grab something that's quick and easy, like leftover dessert from the night before.   Although I guess this way, at least today, I could claim that Nazi's sabotaged my diet and how many people can say that?  Darn Nazi's!!!

PS: I found the card reader.  Pics of the Nazi Pie have been posted in yesterday's entry. ;)