Monday, November 29, 2010

Weekend Update 11/26-28/10

So Friday we got out of work at 3:30 and I headed over to the grocery store to start getting some of the ingredients for the cookies. I decided to try out 5 of them but one of the ingredients is cake flour and our grocery store doesn't sell it. I've since learned a substitute for it but I of course didn't look that up before I did the cookies so the one recipe that called for it I just didn't do. Another one needed a pastry bag and since the store didn't sell that either I skipped out on that one as well.

Anyway I got the ingredients for the ones but didn't do any baking on Friday. I read my book for awhile and then watched some tv until HDT got home. We had dinner and watched some shows. I had a headache all day that refused to go away and I don't know if it was the 4th piece of pizza or what but my stomach had started to feel upset as well. He got on the elliptical and tried to make me feel guilty for not exercising too but I just didn't feel good. Pretty much after he was done working out he cleaned up and then went to bed. I stayed up a little while longer reading some more then finally felt tired enough to go to bed around midnight.

HDT went to work and I stayed in bed sleeping for a few more hours. Got up around 9ish and decided to go ahead and workout then rather than wait for HDT to get home, especially since he was working his full 12 hour day and then was going to be turning right back around and going in at 2am for a full 16 hour day. Didn't want to take the chance that he wouldn't be working out in the evening and me not wanting to then. My headache and stomach ache was gone so I was happy about that, so drank a protein drink and got on the elliptical. I did an hour on the treadmill and 35 minutes on the elliptical for over 600 calories burned. Good workout. Finished watching the show that I had started while on the treadmill then went and soaked in the tub finishing my book.

After that I believe I watched one of my recorded shows, maybe two. Then I went up to start in on the cookies. I did some melting moments which are very similar to Mexican wedding cakes but there aren't any nuts in the melting moments. HDT said they were good and everyone liked them but I didn't care for 'em much. I don't know if I cooked them too long or what but instead of melting in the mouth they turned to a paste. Maybe because the ones I tried were still warm, I don't know but at any rate I threw out the recipe, I won't be doing those anymore. Although they were easy to make.

I also did a chocolate chunk cookie and an M&M cookie. The recipe for both was exactly the same other than no M&M's in the CC cookie and no chocolate chunks in the M&M cookie. But they came out all crispy instead of soft and chewy. I think it's the cookie sheets that HDT bought last year. Because all my carrot cookies I made last year were too done as well. They seem to make them bake much quicker than what the time called for. So when I did the M&M cookies I took them out a full 5 minutes before the shortest time mentioned and they were still over done. But once again, everyone at HDT's work liked them and he said they still were soft in the middle, just crispy along the edges. But then, I did put a hamburger bun in each of the containers to soak up all the air to keep them that way. I kept 3 out for ourselves of the CC cookie, sent all the rest and all the M&M and melting moments with him to work.

I was trying to surprise him with the M&M ones. Last January we had ordered several bags of the do it yourself type M&M's. We got Saints M&M's for the Superbowl. They were brown, white and gold candies and the white and gold ones said either Saints or had a fleur-de-lys on them. The brown ones were just the normal MM candies. They were the only ones that came out, the fleur-de-lys and Saints ones all melted off. The candies themselves stayed intact at least. I guess whatever they use to put your personal saying on isn't the same as what they use for the MM's, very disappointing.

Oh well, live and learn with it all. That's why I decided to start now, I want to know which recipes will work and which ones won't; and what adjustments I'd have to make to make the ones I really want to work, work. And now since I've found out what I can do to substitute for the cake flour I'll be able to do the one recipe that calls for it. Maybe I'll do more this coming weekend. I'm just glad his coworkers liked 'em enough to eat 'em and they didn't go to waste.

Sunday I got up around 9ish again but this time I took my time getting up and doing things. I ate breakfast and after watching a show or two finally decided to get on the elliptical. I didn't work as hard as yesterday though. Between the machines and being on my feet for several hours doing cookies my body was sore. So I did just over 1 1/2 miles on the elliptical (exactly 200 calories burned) and then did just over 2 miles on the treadmill. But on that I at least did a few 1 minute jogs and a few high inclines as well. Watched The Ref while I was working out. Love that movie.

After I finished the movie recovering from the machines for the last 15 minutes of it I went up to soak in the tub and started in on book V of the Dark Tower: Wolves of the Calla. I decided I wasn't going to be baking any more cookies this weekend so after the bath I went and watched more of my dvr'd shows - Private Practice and Hoarders until HDT came home.

Made dinner of garlic dill potatoes, green beans and some prime rib that one of HDT's coworkers gave him. It was already cooked so I just had to reheat it so I put it on the George Foreman grill. HDT had brought home some bread that someone had brought in on Thanksgiving that was just sitting there now. I liked everything but the meat. I'm not a big fan of left over meat unless it's in a stew or spaghetti or something like that. I don't know if it just wasn't heated enough for me or that there wasn't any seasoning on it or what but I just didn't care for it so after just 3 bites I gave the rest to HDT to have. By the time I was done with the rest of my food I was full anyway so it wasn't a big deal not to have it.

We watched the night game (Colts vs Chargers) until 9:00 when The Walking Dead came on. We actually watched it live, besides football and award shows we don't watch much of anything live. But it's such a damn good show that we had to. He was texting with Scott, the cop that came to New Orleans with us, the whole time we were watching the show because Scott watches it as well. Only one more left for this run, not sure when the next "season" will start but I hope it's not too long. One of the best shows on the air right now. Many people have likened it to Lost. I could see that in many of the things that's going on and since I loved Lost I'm not surprised I'm loving this show.

Media quote of the day: The Walking Dead - Show #2: Guts

Nice moves there, Clint Eastwood. You're the new sheriff come riding in to clean up the town? - Glenn
Wasn't my intention. - Rick Grimes
Yeah, whatever. Yeehah. You're still a dumbass. - Glenn

Friday, November 26, 2010

My puppy is all tuckered out from Thanksgiving Day

So Wednesday night and Thanksgiving day went well. We got out of work at 3:30 on Wednesday and rather than go straight to the store to start getting cookie ingredients I decided to go home to see if HDT would like to come with me. But he made a good point. He asked if we had any plans for the rest of the day and I said other than making some cookies no we had no plans. He said since we wouldn't be seeing his grandma on Thursday and it's been such a long time since we have seen her that we should take her out to dinner. I agreed and he called her up to make sure she hadn't eaten yet. Then about 15 minutes later she calls back to say that his mom would be coming over there soon 'cause she's staying the night in preparation of the next day and wanted to know if we would be ok if she came as well. So of course I said that would be just fine. We picked them up and took 'em to dinner. After that we went back to the house so HDT could have a slice of pecan pie, his favorite.

Thursday I got up at 9:00 and started gathering everything that would be needed to take to mom's and just as I was getting in the shower HDT woke up. We decided to take our new tv over to her house since it's bigger than hers and would be easier for people to see in different parts of the rooms for football watching. Especially since the Saints would be playing that afternoon. Kind of funny but it looks bigger in her house than ours. But that would make sense, we're so used to seeing a huge tv where it's sitting now and also the the big empty wall behind that was mostly taken up before.

So while HDT watched the Lions game mom and I tooled around the kitchen with Poydras following me around the whole time. Every time I told him to go to Papa he'd run over to HDT and jump in his lap but he'd still follow me with his eyes the whole time. And he'd only stay there for a few minutes. Silly dog.

The rest of the family got there just before 2:00 except for Wayne and his family, they were going to his MIL's house for dinner. We sat down to eat just after 2:30 and everything was really really good. The white meat was very moist. HDT hit it on the head, he said it just fell apart in the mouth like fish does it was that moist. I made green beans with toasted almonds. I've never toasted almonds so was a bit worried but they turned out just fine which is good cause one of the cookies I'm thinking of making calls for toasted almonds.

We were all done eating just in time for the Saints game. I helped mom start to clean up but when we got down to the time of packing up the food and finishing cutting up the turkey she told me to go sit and enjoy the game cause she had to think about how she'd pack it all up anyway so it'd just be easier for her to do it herself. So that's what I did.

At half time HDT got ready to leave for work since he had to work overtime 6:00-10:00. Although it was just 5:00 he wanted to be there early enough to be able to get the game up on the tv before the 2nd half started. We texted back and forth about what was going on. I hate, hate, hate when Brees throws long and sure enough he threw one and it got intercepted. But then with just 4:00 minutes or so left he threw another one and this time it was caught by our guy. Without it we probably would'nt have won the game. Besides the fact that Malcolm Jenkins took a ball right out of a Cowboy's hands for a terrific turnover. Which set up Brees to be able to make that long ass throw.

Wayne and his family showed up about the middle of the 3rd quarter. Mom visited with them while the rest of us finished watching the game. After that we turned the tv off and headed to the basement where a tournament was going on at the pool table. While that was happening we set up the the Pictionary game and the rest of us played that. We took a break at the beginning of the 2nd game cause several of the kids were saying they were hungry. Just about everyone grabbed something to eat and I took Poydras out one more time as well.

But pretty much just after we had resumed the game Scott says he and his kids would have to be leaving real soon because he had to have his two back to their mom by 10:00. Drives me up the wall it does, but whatever. So yeah, they left and the rest of did our name draw for Christmas having mom and Wayne's kids standing in for Scott, his wife and HDT. After that we cleaned up the game stuff and we headed out for the night. HDT called me on his way home to see how soon I'd be leaving, let him know I was packing up the truck then and would be home soon.

By the time I got there he was in bed already but not asleep so we chatted some while I was washing up and getting ready to join him. Poydras had been up all day, from the time I got up to the time we got home. He's like any dog, sleeps a lot during the day but yesterday he didn't take a nap at all. I could tell he was tired and cranky but he refused to just settle down and take a nap. When I got home I let him in the house first then started unloading the truck. After I was finished with that and feeding the cats I headed to the bathroom to start washing up and I glance in the bedroom and he's already curled up between HDT's legs ready for sleep. Too funny.

Then this morning I have to coax him out of bed to go outside. He did his usual thing when he came in, went straight to his food bowl waiting for breakfast. I put the cats' food in their bowls and turn to put his in his bowl and he's not there anymore. I call him and I hear him come trotting in from the bedroom. He sits down in front his bowl and I tell him to eat his breakfast but he just keeps sitting there looking at me. As I'm walking around doing my morning ritual he still just sits there watching me. Then next thing I see is him trotting into the bedroom to go back to bed. He didn't even eat one morsel of food. That is one tired puppy. By the time I go home for lunch he should be mostly rested up and ready for breakfast.
Media quote of the day: two from Buffy the Vampire Slayer (tv show) which I use quite a damn bit. And whats funny is that both are from my beloved Spike, he seems to have a thing for puppies.

I'm saying that Spike had a little trip to the vet, and now he doesn't chase the other puppies anymore - Spike - Pangs (1999)

What's this? Sittin' around watching the telly while there's evil still afoot? It's not very industrious of you. I say we go out there and kick a little demon ass! What? Can't go without your Buffy, is that it? Too chicken? Let's find her. She is the chosen one, after all. Come on! Vampires! Grrr! Nasty! Let's annihilate them, for justice, and for... the safety of puppies... and Christmas, right? Let's fight that evil! Let's kill something! Oh, come on! - Spike from Doomed (2000)

Wednesday, November 24, 2010

Cookies, I just may make some

So I was tooling around the Internet yesterday and found the Joy of Cooking site and found 14 cookie recipes I want to try out. There're also a few that I found in my Southern Living and Country Living mags and then there's my carrot cookie recipe that's been in my family for years. I've been thinking about doing a lot of baking this Christmas time. Last year would've been better since I wasn't working and had all the time in the world. But no, this is the year that I feel like doing it. Heh

Anyway, some of them seem to be pretty damn easy, others a little more involved. I'm thinking maybe I'll try a couple out this weekend while HDT is working. We shall see.

If we get out of work early today, as our office manager is hoping for, maybe I'll even do one or two of the real easy ones to take to mom's house tomorrow. It's her first Thanksgiving without her husband so we'll spend the whole day there. Well, I will, HDT has to work overtime from 6:00pm - 10:00pm which sucks but it's money at least.

As I'm looking at more and more and printing out more and more of the recipes I'm thinking to myself there's a whole hell of a lot of ingredients in all these. So I opened up excel and went through each recipe and listed the ingredients and as I came across the same ones I'd put how much was needed. Shit loads turns out, 51 in all. And unsalted butter is the most common one. Yeah, these aren't going to be diet friendly one bit. But it's the holidays and when else can you indulge. We'll just have to keep up the work outs and eating as good as possible in between.

Media quote of the day: two from Home for the Holidays (1995) and one from Lost "Hearts and Minds" (2005)

I'm giving thanks that we don't have to go through this for another year. Except we do, because those bastards went and put Christmas right in the middle, just to punish us. - Adele - the late, great Anne Bancroft

Nobody means what they say on Thanksgiving, Mom. You know that. That's what the day's supposed to be all about, right? Torture. - Claudia - the still living but still pretty great Holly Hunter.


Locke? Guy's a freak of nature, highly disturbed. Chances are he probably killed all his mates at the Post Office the day his mum forgot to put a cookie in his lunch tin - Charlie the always great and so damn cute I just wanna pick him up and squish him Dominic Monaghan

Monday, November 22, 2010

Weekend Update 11/19-21/10

So our weekend definitely was a busy one but it was good.

Friday I got out of work at 3:15. Got home and HDT was working on the leaves, let him know he'd have to quit soon to start getting ready to get out of there for the company holiday party. I packed our overnight bag and got our outfits together. We were on the road after 4:00, not sure when exactly, but we were trucking on down the road. Looked like we were going to make really good time but then about half way there we hit the traffic going into and around Chicago. It was stead going but it was slow, only around 20/25 mph.

At one point when I was just gliding along not using the gas or brake my car died. At the same time the battery light came on I realized there wasn't that usual vibration that you barely feel happening anymore. So I said to HDT that the car just died, he said to put the blinkers on so I did. And then looked to my right to see if I could get over, luckily the car that was over there was far back enough to see me put the lights on and they slowed enough to let me slowly coast over and then onto the breakdown lane. It wasn't easy going either since the power steering was gone. But as soon as I got there I put it in park, turned the key into the off position then turned it back on and it started up right away, no issues. I got back on the highway and didn't have another problem for the rest of the way there.

We got there about 5:45 or so and had to wait forever it seemed to be able to check in. The two guys behind the counter were helping the family in front of us. But we finally got checked in and went up to our room to change. I asked the guy behind the counter where we needed to go for the party and he pulled up a piece of paper with the info. It showed that the cocktail time was 6:00 to 7:30 so I wasn't feeling like we had to hurry much. Made me feel better when I saw that. We got down to the cocktail area about 6:30 or so and Chris, my coworker, was there already with her sister. So we talked with them for awhile then a few others came up and we chatted with them. Then HDT and I got in line for a drink. We each got one more when they opened the doors into the room where dinner was going to be.

Dinner was really good. We had lobster bisque for the soup, never had it before, I really liked it; salad, which I was a good girl and are some of the leaves, I mean lettuce, but that was about it. Sooo not a salad person. The main course was a small piece of chicken breast - moist; small filet mignon - tender; garlic mashed potatoes - yummy; 3 asparagus stalks and two small whole carrots - both just the right amount of crunchy and tender. Desert was a toffee/cookies and cream type pie with almond shavings on the top. All in all a very good meal.

There was a silent auction that we did not take part of, no money don't'cha know. Although there were a few things I would've liked to have had. We did buy a few tickets for the raffle which was for a free night there at the resort. But alas, we didn't win. I guess in previous years there was a band and dancing after dinner but not this year. Supposedly the music they piped in over the speakers that we could barely hear was supposed to be the music for dancing. Yeah, no one realized that because they had turned the lights up all the way and what party has the lights up all the way for dancing? They did have a group of kids 11-15 play their violins for us just after dinner but before the desert. Actually while the desert was being served. Anyway, they were really good, they were also accompanied by a pianist. I thought she was a kid as well cause I could see was a small portion of her face but HDT had a better view and said she was an adult. Anyway, they were all really good, played a bunch of Christmas songs.

After all that bunch of our group were heading down to a bar in the building for the "after party" but HDT and I didn't feel like going. I was trying to convince him to go back to the room for a little something something without really saying it but he knew what I meant, but someone had mentioned the Harry Potter movie and he looked up movie theaters on his phone and found one just down the street that had a showing starting at 11:00. Since it was just after 10:00 we went up to the room to change clothes and we headed over to the theater. I was worried that our seats would be really low but got lucky, it wasn't that full and we got some good ones right in the middle of the row and on the lower middle of all the rows. Was really good, I was not disappointed. There were a few things that I had to explain to HDT since he hadn't read the books, but for the most part he was good, he wasn't lost at all, just had a few things he wanted explained so they'd make more sense.

Went back to the hotel afterward and as we're getting ready for bed he realizes we didn't bring his C-Pap machine. Just great. He snored most of the night which made me take forever to fall asleep and woke me up plenty of times throughout the night, including waking himself up. One of those times when I woke up I felt really hot so in the dark I went over to the thermostat to turn it down. I was warm when I woke up in the morning but not overly uncomfortably so when he woke up not long after he complained about how dry and sore his throat was and not just form snoring. So I tell him I turned it down in the night and I go over to see what it says and it's 76 fuckin degrees. Yeah, you'd think the down button would've been the one on the left, but nope, it was the up button. Yeah, we were a bit hot.

Anyway, I got him up and we got ready to go to breakfast. Found a nice family restaurant down the road and had a good breakfast. We had Jim let Poydras out for us since it was going to be awhile before we got home. That way we were able to stop off and get our niece and nephew their birthday cards and pick up my birth control pills. Went home and spent a little time with the puppy and HDT played a game or two of Black Ops then we headed out to Wayne's house for his daughters 18th birthday party. Although she's 18 she still sounds and sometimes comes across as much younger. She has a very babyish voice that sometimes bothers me cause I think she should sound more mature but to each there own I guess.

After that we headed home to do the last minute straightening up for whoever was going to be coming over for the UFC fights. Everyone that normally does did end up showing - which is to say all my brothers and 3 of Scott's kids and HDT's friend Jim. Wasn't sure if Scott and his kids were coming because it's his son that was supposed to have a birthday party on Saturday as well but Scott ended up canceling it in a childish fit because Wayne had to have his daughters on that day. Anyway, Scott was pretty pissed and since he didn't respond to me or HDT when I emailed and he texted asking if he was coming we figured he wasn't. But sure enough they came walking through the door just before 8:00. But although he didn't talk as much as he usually does he did good by not causing a fight which I was worried about. All the main fights were done by 11:35 so everyone packed up and left except for Jim but he didn't stay too much longer.

Sunday I woke up much earlier than I expected to after not getting good sleep on Friday and staying up so late on Saturday but I was awake by 9:30 and couldn't fall back asleep. So I got up and did my usual weekend soak in the tub. When I was washing up I heard HDT talking to Poydras so I knew he'd be up in a minute or so. And luckily I didn't have to say anything, he actually did as I was drying off. He says, "Are we gonna do this?" and I said, "Yep." He asked me what I meant when I said that I said doing the lawn as we planned and then asked him what he meant, he meant the same thing so yippee for me, I didn't have to nag to get it done!

He grabbed the leaf blower to finish the leaves in the front yard that he had to abandon on Friday and I grabbed the lawnmower. He lowered the machine so we'd get a good low cut cause he was going to put down the fall weed eater/grass fertilizer stuff. Our yard has never looked so good at the end of the leaf falling time. It was a good thing that Jim had come over on Friday morning to help him start with the backyard. Because I was able to start in on the mowing there while HDT finished the front yard. And by the time I was almost done mowing the front yard he was done putting that crap all over so he had to wait for me to do the last few swipes before finishing and then we admired our work for a bit.

Jim came over right when we were finishing putting things away and then I left to go pick up the lawn stickers for the grass cans. When I got back they had finished taking the garbage out to the curbs and were relaxing on the computer and watching the Packer/Viking game. Saints played at 3:00, just before it started his sister Jess showed up as well. We all had a good time watching the game, especially since they won. Was really tired though from not enough sleep the last two nights.

Afterward we were all hungry and the two boys wanted cherry dr pepper so those three went to the store to pick that up along with some stuff for dinner. I made us hamburgers with HDT's help for dinner, we watched The Office while eating and after that HDT and his sister played Black Ops against each other. Finally she left and HDT took Jim home. My stomach had started feel queasy so I wanted to stay home in case it got worse. Luckily it never did. We got into bed just before midnight.

Yep a very busy but fun weekend.

Media quote of the day:

Well, well, well, look what we have here. It's Harry Potter. He's all bright, and shiny, and new again, just in time for the Dark Lord. - Bellatrix Lestrange - Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - Part 1

Monday, November 15, 2010

Weekend Update 11/12-14/10

So our weekend went well. It was HDT's weekend to work but he had an 8 hour day on Saturday so that was nice.

Friday evening we did our workout after dinner as usual. Watched more dvr'd shows as usual and that was about it.

Saturday he went to work and I slept in. Then took a nice long bath while reading Wizard and Glass - Book IV of the Dark Tower series by Stephen King. Love these books, can't even tell you how much. Although this is my least favorite of the 7. I read some more after getting out the tub. Then around 1ish I made myself presentable and went to the grocery store to get some much needed supplies. Was still there when HDT called to say he was on his way home.

I put the groceries away and made us lunch. Also made a marinade for some pork chops that I was going to be making for dinner. I used most of a recipe I had found on Cooks.com. But added soy sauce to it along with a couple spoonfulls of cream of chicken soup. Stuck those in the fridge to marinade then took our lunch downstairs where he was playing the new Call of Duty: Black Ops game. After he was done with that we pretty much vegged for the day watching more dvr'd shows and he also at some point went on his computer to play WOW.

We were planning on raking up the leaves after he got off work but it was rainy on and off all day so we opted out. So now he's pretty much gonna have to do them by himself or see if his buddy Jim will come over to help. Neither of us ended up working out Saturday. He was having ankle issues and I just got lazy. I was planning on the raking being my workout and when I knew that wasn't happening I just decided to be lazy. But I've lost two pounds which is the goal - to lose 1-2 pounds a week. So YAY me!

The marinade for the chops ended up working out really well, tasted great. Next time I'll make extra so I can add it to them as they're cooking. Although they weren't dry by any means being able to add the moisture as they cooked would make them better. And maybe having some on the side for dipping in too.

Sunday he went to work. When I got up I did my usual Sunday morning long soak while reading. He texted me right after I sat down in the tub asking if I'd bring by the laptop and Poydras for a visit. Let him know I had just gotten in the bath, that I wasn't going to hurry but we'd be there, probably around noon. While I was finishing up getting ready he texted again about having lunch together. We decided to get chinese so I picked it up and visited with him and his partner for awhile. One of the CSO's (community service officer) came in that I know so she visited as well.

After awhile I took Poydras home and then I went to the mall. I needed to get an outfit or at least a top to wear to our company's holiday party this Friday. I found several tops I really liked for the party and for work but had to narrow it down to just a few. The one I got for the party is black and white and sparkly. I'm still debating on it being the actual top I wear. I still like the top I wore to HDT's class reunion last August and my mom has a top that's really nice and might fit me. We shall see.

I walked the mall from one end to the other, it's two miles from end to end, listening to piped in Christmas music. Why oh why does the season start earlier and earlier every year? Hell, the Chicago Lite music station is already playing the music 24/7. They started on Friday!! DAMN. In between walking the whole thing I went into a couple stores to try on outfits. Got the previously mentioned blouses at the first store. At the second store nothing looked good on me so didn't get anything there. I was so tempted at the cinnabon and cookie places but was able to resist. I also thought about getting one of the Auntie Ann's almond pretzels until I looked them up on my weight loss app I'm using and found that one of those is around 400 calories. Yep, no way was I getting one. But I was really thirsty and dieing for something sweet so looked up a McD's chocolate shake, found that the kids 12oz size was over 300 but my walking of the mall burned up that and I knew I'd be on the treadmill later in the evening so I indulged in one. It tasted really really good too, I don't regret it at all.

I got home just after 4:00 so I decided to start catching up on my Private Practices since HDT doesn't watch that one. After the 2nd one it was 6:00 so I headed up to the kitchen to start making the spaghetti that I've been craving for awhile now for dinner.

HDT came home while I fixing it and after changing clothes he went down to play a game or two of the Black Ops while I finished up. We had dinner while watching some more dvr'd shows. I think we've made the decision of not watching Hawaii 5 0 anymore. Although we both like it we're not attached to it the way we are with our other shows and since we watch way too many already it's gonna have to be cut.

My mom called shortly after dinner was completed and we chatted for a little while. My aunt, her sister, passed away this weekend. This has been a bad year for our family: two aunts, two cousins and my step dad all passed away this year. Very sad.

My two brothers who have kids each have one with a birthday this month. They're 2 years and 1 day apart. My niece will be turning 18 and my nephew will be turning 16. Scott sent us all an email a couple weeks ago letting us know his son's party would this Saturday the 20th. Just last week Wayne sent out an email letting us all know that his daughter's party will be the same day. With her going to school and working it's the only day she has off and would be able to have it. Scott is really pissed at Wayne, so pissed he was considering sending a nasty email telling him what he thought of him and his decision. UGH! Mom and I both figured we'd go to Wayne's house for an hour or so (her party starts an hour earlier) and then leave there and end the day at Scott's house. For me it makes the most sense since we closer to him and I'd rather have a shorter drive home then drive out. But he was threatening canceling his party and just taking his wife and kids to Chicago for the weekend. UGH again!

So after I got off the phone with her I got on the treadmill to do my 3.0 miles. I was just putting the incline to go up all the way to 15 for a minute trek when my cell phone starts chirping again (my ring is crickets) and I see that it's mom again. So I answer and she tells me she just got off the phone with Scott and he's still pissed. She tells him to listen for a minute and tells him what both she and I planned on doing. That seemed to calm him down some so he might go ahead and keep the party going. We shall see.

When I was about half way done HDT got onto the elliptical but was only able to do it for a couple minutes before his ankle started to give problems again. I think he's overdoing the treadmill. He's doing 1 minute jogs every now and then which is fine, I think he should but he's doing them at too fast of a pace right now. We just started, have only been doing this for a week so far, I think he needs to wait a little longer to go that fast. When I did my jogs it was tiring but I didn't get hurt so yeah, he needs to take it a bit easier. But whatever, he's gonna do what he's gonna do, being the bullheaded man he is. Heh

After I was done I took a breather on the couch to finish the show we were watching and once that was done I gave him a kiss goodnight and headed up to take a muscle soothing hot bath. I got into bed just after midnight. I was worried that even though I took the relaxing bath that having worked out so late in the evening that it would keep me awake. But it didn't. I'm definitely sleeping a lot better since we've been doing these exercises.

Media quote of the day: - We Wish You a Merry Christmas by we don't know, but it's traced back to the 15th century

We wish you a Merry Christmas;
We wish you a Merry Christmas;
We wish you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.
Good tidings we bring to you and your kin;
Good tidings for Christmas and a Happy New Year.

Thursday, November 11, 2010

Exercise, Exercise, Exercise

So we've used the elliptical and treadmill every day but one since Saturday. We decided to take Tuesday off to recoup. I was sore on Monday but I had HDT massage my back, which was the most sore, and that did the trick. It loosened up the muscles and I was good to go and it hasn't hurt that way since. His feet were hurting pretty bad on Tuesday and it doesn't help that he stands for most of his 12 hours at work. So to make sure my back was able to keep healing and his feet could get a rest we skipped Tuesday.

But we got back on yesterday. He did a few good sprints on the treadmill and a few times he kept the pace at 3.0 (I think it was anyway) but put the incline up as high as it would go. That worked him pretty good. I also put the incline up as high as it would go on the elliptical (20) for a couple minutes but then kept it around 7 for most of the time. Also had the resistance around 7 as well.

His youngest sister was over and at one point she walks behind the machines to get to his desk/computer and unplugs my machine. Fortunately it was during my cool down time so I had already reached my goal of working off 300 calories. Unfortunately I don't know my exact time, strides, calories and distance. But I remember looking at the calories about a minute or two before she did it and it had just reached 305 so that was good enough since that's what we're keeping track of more than anything else.

Today my upper and middle back are a little stiff but otherwise I'm feeling good. Yep, very happy we're back on track. And just like I knew I would, I'm more inclined to make myself eat healthier. I so wanted McDonald's for lunch yesterday but I was good and turned into my neighborhood rather than going straight to the arches. And proceeded to have a crappy bologna sandwich. It's the 98% fat free kind, normally I just get the lite but I couldn't find any so settled for this stuff. I didn't think it would be much different but OMG it is! But even as picky as I am I'm still able to eat it. But every time I eat a sandwich I wish I liked condiments or cheese or something to help hide the taste other than just the bread. Oh well, I'm almost done with the pack so so be it.

Media quote of the day:

You so broke your bologna has no first name. - Shortie #1 in a Shark's Tale

Monday, November 8, 2010

Totally confused - Updated

So I do my weekend update post and then go to view it the site and lo and behold my blogrolling list is back!! So I got to their site to see if they have anything to say about coming back and nothing. It just looks the same as before. I'm totally confused.

So this is one of the times that I'm glad I'm such a procrastinator. Otherwise I would've already taken the stuff out of my template and would never have known they're back up and running.

I guess we'll see how long it lasts.

______________________

So it's a few hours later and the list is gone again. So I go back to their website and it's back to the same thing about they've ceased operation.

This is too damn funny. I guess it was glitch for an hour or so. I suppose I really will have to use another bloglist from somewhere else. Bummer

Weekend Update 11/5-7/10

So Friday the treadmill was delivered but of course when I got home from work I had a headache and was just too damn tired to work out so we didn't. I thought for sure he would've used it earlier in the day but he hadn't. Jim had come over in the afternoon, they were supposed to go out to the garage to lift weights but they decided it was just too cold to do so so they didn't do that either. So he and I just hung out watching more dvr'd shows while he also played on his computer.

Saturday we both woke up a little after 9:00, I think anyway. We got up and decided we better work out now otherwise we wouldn't want to later. So I got on the elliptical and he used the treadmill. We decided we'd go 3 miles. We've discovered that we burn way more calories on the elliptical than the treadmill. At least doing the treadmill with no incline and an average of 3.0 miles an hour. Normally I shouldn't burn as many calories as him in the same time since he's a male and weighs over a 100 pounds more than me. But that elliptical kicks your ass! I did have the resistance on the elliptical at 3 for most of the time but did go up to 5 quite often and up to 7 once, it was like walking through sand, UGH!

The last 10-15 minutes of it I was beginning to die and said that maybe an hours time was just too much to start out with. But as he said, we only had 15 more minutes to go, that we could do it. And of course we did.

After that he took a shower and then I took a nice long hot bath to relax my muscles. After that I got ready and went to do some shopping at Target. While there HDT called to say that Jim called him to see if we were doing anything cause he was bored and would like to know if we'd be ok with him coming over. I said that it was fine with me since we weren't gonna do anything but continue catching up on the dvr'd shows anyway so why not. When I got home less than a 1/2 hour later he was already there.

I made us hamburgers for dinner and we watched The Invention of Lying and after that was The Informant. Both were pretty good but as fun as The Informant was to watch it was kind of fucked up. But I love me some Matt Damon and he was really good as usual. Both of those are Netflix movies we've had for over a month because we kept forgetting we had them along with the fact that we have so many dvr'd shows. Yep, again, we watch too damn much tv. Heh

After The Informant I went to bed and they hung out for a little while longer playing x-box games. I think HDT came to bed some time after 2:00. And that was after I had set the clock back so really it was some time after 3:00.

Sunday we woke up around 9:45 or so but decided not work out right away. We each had a bowl of cereal for breakfast, watched one of the Mediums and then turned on the pregame show since it was 11:40. Watched the Saints game, this time they had a resounding win. It was great to see and the Panthers 3 points only happened because Brees threw an interception right at the beginning of the game. But our defense was able to hold them to just those 3 points and then nothing for the rest of the game. So that was pretty awesome.

Right after the game ended we got on the machines. This time I took the treadmill and he took the elliptical. For awhile he didn't use any resistance and was just trucking along. At some point he started changing his resistance and his incline, not sure to what though. I started out at no incline and 3.0 mph. Then I went up to 3.3 for most of the time. Every now and then I'd go up to 3.5 and twice I went up to 4.5 to jog for a minute. At one point I put my incline up to 5.0 and then adjusted it between 4.0 and 5.0 for the rest of the time.

He ended up burning over 600 calories and I did 353.3. See what I mean by burning way more on the elliptical? That's closer to what it should be normally, him so much more than me. I think he had burned over 500 when he did the treadmill and I was close to him, definitely over 500, when I was on the elliptical. So I think that's what we'll keep doing, switching back and forth every day so we get the benefits from the elliptical, until we're ready to really do some changing on the treadmill to get closer to the burn. And also so we don't get static with always doing the same motions on the same machine.

Afterward I went up for another long hot bath to soothe the aches, finished my book finally as well. Then I put the dirty dishes in the dishwasher and prepared a good dinner for us of chicken breasts, green beans and corn with a piece of french bread. Cooked enough so he could take a whole meal to work with him today and stay healthy.

We watched some more recorded shows, finished some laundry and then got into bed just after 10:00. I kept waking up because my back is hurting. It hurts like I've been working it out as well. I'm thinking it's because I was trying to have the proper posture while on the treadmill and since that's not my normal walking stature I am actually working the back muscles. Anyway, I kept waking up because I was uncomfortable and kept turning over to put it back in order. But in between the wake ups I slept really well so I still feel like I got plenty of sleep.

Media quotes of the day:

From The Invention of Lying:

Hi, this is Mark. - Mark Bellison calling Anna
Oh, hi Mark. Didn't you get my email? - Anna McDoogles
The one about being not good enough for you? - Mark Bellison
That's the one. - Anna McDoogles
Yeah, got that. Cheers. - Mark Bellison

From The Informant:

There should be a tv show about a guy who calls home one day and he's there, he answers, he's talking to himself, only he's someone else. He's somehow divided into two, and the second one of him drives away and the rest of the show is about him trying to find the guy. - Mark Whitacre (voice over)

Wednesday, November 3, 2010

Blogger list

I sure would like to know what the hell happened to my blogger list. It's been gone for the past two days. WTF I wonder if anyone else who uses blogrolling is having problems. Hmmmm, let me go do some searching....

So, the few sites I went to seem to still have their blog lists so I'm not sure what's going on. I'll have to look into it some more a little later.
_____________________

Later:

So yeah, blogrolling is now no longer in service. This is what comes up when you go to the site:

Blogrolling Has Ceased Operation

The Blogrolling service is no longer available.

If your site is still using Blogrolling code you should see a blank space where your blogroll used to be. That is because rpc.blogrolling.com is currently serving up a blank file.

We will continue to serve this blank file for six months.

After April 30th, 2011 rpc.blogrolling.com will no longer respond to requests. Please note that this could, and probably will, cause problems with your web site, so you’ll want to take all Blogrolling.com code off your site as soon as you can.

Clean Your Code



1.Remove the blogrolling JavaScript code from your site.
2.Not sure where the code is? “View Source” on your pages and search for “blogrolling” in the code.
Thanks again for your support these many years.

Happy blogging!



Yippy, now I have to redo my list using something else, probably end up using bloggers version of the list. But I guess it's gonnna have to wait cause I don't have time to work on it now. Motherfuck!

No media quote this time around.

Tuesday, November 2, 2010

Weekend Update 10/29-31/10

So let's see, I'm drawing a blank on what we did Friday night. Probably not much of anything since this was his weekend to work. I'm thinking we vegged out watching DVR'd shows until he had to go to bed for the night.

Saturday he went to work and I went back to bed until 9:30ish. Took a long, hot bath reading my book. Mom called me to let me know that she and Roy would be by later in the day to chew up the stump from the Magnolia tree. I let her know HDT was actually getting his 8 hour day so he'd be out by 2:00 and we had some shopping to do so we may not be home when they come over.

Sure enough we left by 3:00 and they weren't gonna be by until some time after 4:00. We're planning on getting a treadmill so one of us can be on it while the other is on the elliptical. That way we'll be more inclined to workout at home. We decided on a Precor model (floor model also to save on the payment) to go with our Precor elliptical. The guy works up what our payment should be a month, we agree, so he then works up the sale. On the paper that HDT was to sign all it said was per monthly payment, didn't say what that payment would be. So he tells the sales guy that until it's guaranteed what our payment will be, which he wouldn't know until Monday, he (HDT) won't be signing anything yet. So we let him know we still want it but until Monday we can't sign and we leave to get some dinner. We had pretty much just sat down when the guy calls HDT and tells him the payment after taxes will actually be $24.00 more. He had forgotten to include taxes when we were still at the store.

So we let him know we'd still have to think about it and we'd get back to him on Monday. HDT is still thinking about it today but we do want it so we'll probably end up going with it.

My head had been hurting before we even left the house and it just kept getting worse as the day wore on. I had had a headache on Friday as well. I kept taking ibuprofen and it seemed to get rid of it and then it'd just come back. Saturday it was getting worse because I hadn't eaten much of anything all day and by the time we finished at the workout store it was after 5:00 and I was dieing from the pain. As soon as I got my drink I took 3 more ibuprofen and then after eating some of the bread sticks I could feel it loosening up.

I wanted to go straight home, so did HDT but we had to get the candy for trick or treating the next day. I also had other shopping to do but he nicked that idea. Of course, you can't go into Walmart without looking around some and getting at least one or two more items than what you planned on going in for. But it wasn't bad, we were in and out within 20 minutes or so and at least 5 of that was waiting in line.

By the time we got home it was dark of course and we couldn't really see much of where the stump had been. But we could see enough that there was a pile of tiny, tiny wood chips along with dirt all piled around where the shallow hole is where the stump used to be.

We watched some shows and then he went to bed while I read some of my magazines until close to midnight when I finally felt tired enough to go to sleep.

Sunday he went to work again and after I got up and took three more ibuprofen with breakfast I did a little laundry while watching some of my dvr'd Ghost Hunters show until I had to go upstairs to get ready for the trick or treaters.

Trick or treating was to go from 2:00 to 6:00 which is unusual, it's usually 1:00 - 4:00 but I guess the village finally decided to do it right this time. HDT was worried that we bought too much candy but I figured it wouldn't be so bad since I usually give out 2-3 pieces to each kid. Besides all the fun size candy bars we also got the miniature tootsie rolls. I figured I'd give those to the kids that didn't even try to do a costume along with a few pieces to each of the other kids with their bars. After just an hour my basket was getting pretty low so I refilled it and decided I better cut down on the number of bars and add a few more tootsie rolls. But then after only an hour and a half it tapered down big time. There was just one more little surge of kids and then nothing. From 5:20 to 6:00 I had one kid, he got a huge handful and was very pleased.

Every year it seems like we get less and less kids so this time I decided I was going to keep a tally. Give or take a few kids we only had 37 kids in 4 hours. That's pretty dismal really. So yeah, I guess next year I'll try to remember that and buy less candy no matter what I want to do. If I happen to run out then so be it.

There were a few good costumes but nothing that really stood out this year. Some were repeat costumers I could tell because they were asking questions about the cats and OMG you have a dog now too? It was pretty cute.

After HDT got home from work we had dinner and hung out watching the Saints game. My head had quit hurting after taking the ibuprofen earlier but about 20 minutes or so into the game it started to hurt again. It kept getting worse and worse so since I had Cry Baby on my chest and left shoulder and Poydras curled up on my lap I had HDT go and get me one of my migraine pills. I decided I better go with the hard stuff since the ibuprofen wasn't kicking it away completely. Usually after taking one of those within 20 minutes or so I start to feel the pain releasing but this time I didn't, it actually kept getting worse. So needless to say after the game was done I went to bed.

Football is not a good thing to watch when you have a migraine let me to you. All the tensing up and relaxing, all the cheering and high fiving just adds to the pain. At the very end after the Saints won HDT starts singing the na na na hey hey goodbye song, pretty loudly I might add. I covered my ears and said, "Honey, pain, pain, pain." He was a little sad but he did quit singing.

He came upstairs with me when I went to bed and asked if I needed anything so I had him rub the base of my skull and back of the neck where the pain was really bad. It helped enough that I was able to fall asleep not long after he left the room.

I woke up Monday morning with no migraine but the back of my neck and very top of my back were still sort of tense and felt like I had icy/hot on them. Except it stayed in the icy stage the whole time, kinda weird really. But at least the headache never came back and it's now Tuesday afternoon and still no pain. So yeah, kinda regret not going for the hard stuff by Saturday night. But for some reason I'm reluctant to take them.

Media quote of the day: portion of This is Halloween from The Nightmare Before Christmas

This is Halloween, this is Halloween
Pumpkins scream in the dead of night
This is Halloween everybody make a scene
Trick or treat till the neighbors are gonna die of fright
It's our town, everybody scream
In this town of Halloween


Oh how I absolutely love this movie.