Rain, Birkins and Julia Childs

Let me say we are on day 5 of rain. Not soft rain...hard storms with lightening rain. Cars are washing away...homes are ruined. I feel lucky that only my landscaping has been harmed. Lucy, on the other hand, does not realize she is blessed. She is royally pissed that I make her go outside at all. But the rain has given me an excuse to do little but read.

I finally finished Bringing Home the Birkin and Julia Child's My Life in France. Both are set in Europe..both feature people who are delightful. I fell in love with both books.

In honor of Julia, I watched a video on YouTube (I love that site!) where she makes a real omelette. Turns out I had no clue. I've been making tough, leathery omelettes all my life. I made it her way with butter and only 20 seconds in the pan..and it was so good. Light, fluffy...just delicious. So I tried a modified Beef Bourginion tonight. It turned out fine..except it did burn a little. But I caught before any real damage could occur. Now I long for a larger Le Creuset French Oven. I have the 2 quart..which is fine for small serving dishes. But for BB..you would need at least the 5 quart which is 3 times as expensive.




Did y'all watch the Georgia O'Keefe movie on Lifetime? I really want to discuss with someone. It was really a very simple movie but had a few moral issues I want to discuss. It did make wonder why Jeremy Irons is not in more movies. Joan Allen was wonderful as O'Keefe.

My so called vacation

Yep, those are my toes. I have rule about not having foot pictures as my feet are not that pretty. Although I do have some great sandals.

Anyway, these are my feet after a day of answering calls, emails, faxes, etc. And I'm on vacation. It's a busy time for my company and I have no problem helping out. I just need a vacation for my vacation.

I will be 48 tomorrow. I can't believe I'm that old. I don't feel that old. I don't look that old - ok, maybe I do. But I definitely do not feel it.
I'm realizing that the last 48 years have been kind of a blur. Things have slowed down for me the past three years. I've been in this house and had no real crisis or disaster. And for that I am grateful. I had enough the first 45 years of my life. I've also realized that I'm pretty much on my own here on out (have been for 10 years but I kept thinking I'd meet someone) and I better make my life around that and not keep waiting. I have my own social group of friends who I go to dinner with and movies, etc. I go to the gym - for my health not my looks....and I have my cute little house. All in all it's not a bad life.

Ok, that is my rambling...where are you in your life? Are you happy? Are you yearning? Are you in a bunch of drama? Remember, it isn't bad or good..it is just is.

Finally, I'm taking a break this weekend from the internet. I have my daughter coming into town to celebrate my birthday and I need a break. My sister and I have called a truce on the whole Glenn Beck thing (have you seen what he is saying about Rockefeller Center? KooKoo) Facebook is becoming not a place to play.. it's becoming a political minefield of people. It's getting ugly in a short time and I got sucked into it and I need to pull back.

So hasta la vista...I want to see what you post...I do care and enjoy reading them....

Healthcare, rain and eating clean

The talk at work is all about healthcare reform. I work for a medical device company and it has hit us. Hospitals are holding tightly to their dollars in anticipation of losing Medicaid funds. I'm so drained about the debate...I want reform but I think congress needs to slow down and think this thing through. It's too huge to rush. On the other hand, I'm tired of the Canadian Health bashing going on. My Canadian friends will tell you that while it is not flawless, it works a lot better than critics will lead you to believe.

Rain..Rain...Rain...ok, you can leave now . I'm done with you for awhile. I like my porch..I'd like to use it.

Finally, I'm looking into Eating Clean. I've decided to use Tosca's book http://www.eatcleandiet.com/about_the_diet/the_books.aspx#The+Eat-Clean+Diet+Cookbook and do a Julie/Julia thing where I try the recipes and let y'all know how they turned out. It will encourage me to eat better while reviewing whether the food is ok to try.

I'm starting tomorrow with a Turkey and Egg scramble. However, chicken was cheaper than turkey so I'm already modifying it.

Oh, and I'll post more. Please fell free to comment. Then I'll know y'all are out there!

The adventures of Lucy the wonder dog

That is my Lucy. Part Beagle..part something else. She's so sweet and so onery. That pic is from the other morning when I left her in the backyard for ten minutes. I have to put a barrier up because she can fit through the slats and she'll go across the street and poo. Then I get a letter from the HOA telling me to keep my dog in my yard.

Well, the orange fencing worked. It's not pretty but I have no one next door so who is going to complain?

Then last night we were walking on a leash. She saw a rabbit. Lucy is fast..faster than any dog her size. She pulled so hard that I fell face down and lost the leash. She ran around the corner of the house and I heard a scream..maybe more a squeal. I ran..and she is pooping in the neighbor's front yard. So I'm guessing the handle of the leash swung around and got her which resulted in scaring the poop outta her.

But tonight she's curled up on the bed...and you would think she is always an angel.

Zumba, mosquitoes and the power of Oxyclean

Wow, what a wild few weeks we have had. We lost Farrah and Michael on the same day. Farrah we expected...most did not expect Michael. I did. The last pictures I saw of him were bad. He was frail..his hands were blotchy...he did not look healthy. What did shock me was Billy Mays. He may have had a paunch but he seemed healthy. I was hoping the cause of death was the bump to his head but no..his heart gave out. 50 is way too young.

I can't go outside without a swarm of mosquitoes going after me. I finally got a fan to blow on me when I want to read outside in the hammock. But they still get my back.

Finally, I have to share my new passion - Zumba. It's a mix of salsa, hip hop, etc. It's high impact so I have to modify it...but I'm beat when I'm done. My goal is to look like my instructor (well, 20 years later anyway). I hear people lose tremendous amounts of weight doing it. So tonight I got Nikes that are highly recommended for Zumba. I'll keep you posted.

Thanks JoJo and Grits for posting. I love that people are actually reading my blog.

One last thing (I know I said finally two paragraphs before)...I just want to say Roger Federer (not Federline!) is the best player in the world!!

Oh, and JoJo...they are calling Federline K-Fat now that he is so big...

Federer, weight lifting and summer

I'm still on my quest to get healthy. I'm pretty happy with my progress. No weight loss which does surprise me as I'm eating so well...but I since this is NOT a diet..I'm ok with that.

I'm drinking more water, little to no soda and my coffee is way back. I'm eating more natural..less meat..no fried food. I have more energy (except when my allergies kick in) and today I got back in my weight lifting class. I haven't been in a year and it literally kicked my ass. My arms are jello. My legs were ok but my ankles were burning.

What I do need to do is get back into tennis. I love the game..I love how I really lose myself to the moment when I play. Nothing else gets my full attention. Did y'all see my man, Roger play today? It was kinda sad his opponent really didn't try. I hope Nadal is better for Wimbledon so I can see a real match.

It is hot, muggy and buggy outside. I have some great books including American Lion ( I LOVE presidential biographies) but even when I spray myself with Deep Woods Off the bugs still bite..only they bite my eyelids and other weird places. When I lived in Florida, we went on a turtle walk (my favorite thing) and these weird fly/beetle things were biting everyone even though we were covered in bug spray..they even bit in the ear. And these big blisters would form..it was horrible. I never had that again...no matter when we went to the beach. I remember seeing pics of settlers from the turn of the century and they would bury themselves in sand to their neck at night.

It is hot out there

I just came in from laying in the hammock. I also just finished Jen Lancaster's Pretty in Plaid. I just love her. She completely lets you in on what makes her tick. And I found someone who loves polos and pearls as much as I do. She struggles with her weight same as me. And she loves dogs.

Ok, what else is new. Well, I'm not doing well on the working out. I do need to just start walking. When I was going through my divorce and after..I walked all the time. My neighborhood is not big enough to walk through and the street my subdivision is on attracts sketchy people. But it would help.

Work is fine..a little slow right now but I think the summer will pick up as the government does most of it's purchasing this time of year. I dread the last quarter. The experts keep saying things have bottomed out..but I'm not seeing it.

Well, not much else to say. Got to do some laundry and clean the house now that Amanda has returned to Athens.