Over 3 months gone

Summer's over. Thank God. We were on the go the whole summer, with an extra push right at the end.

Then school started, which is its own version of chaos.

Then DD pulled the World's Dumbest Stunt and got suspended. We're just over halfway through her 10 days. I've been stunned, sad, angry and despairing, but we've kept up with her school work and we're just making it through.

The story I contracted back in April is through edits and should be available in November.

The house is in decent shape, mostly because my ILs were here for the weekend, so the kids and I did a mega-clean. The trick is to keep it this way.

Now I'm finally finding my mind again and looking around to see how I'm doing with those New Years Resolutions. Eat, Drink and Be Merry.

Eat - Well, I've lost 3 lbs so far this year. Yeah. Woohoo.

Drink - Good wine, good coffee, could use more water.

Be Merry - You know, it's been kind of a tough year so far. It really has. The Be Merry thing has worked out about as well as the Eat thing. But I'm going to keep working on it. '

Glad to be back.

The blast was contained

Thanks to everyone who stopped by and read and commented on my Friday post!

The weekend actually turned out pretty well.

Oliver did have surgery on Friday. He's always had a sensitive stomach and when he feels icky, he eats grass to try to make himself throw up. It turns out that he ate so much grass, though, that some of it wove itself together into a mass in his stomach that blocked everything from moving on. Over half a pound of grass. My dog thinks he's a cow. The vet said it's only the second time she's seen that in 26 years.

He's recovering very well. Has staples rather than stitches, but he can't get to them to lick or pull them out because they're so high on his belly. Yay!

The Pinewood Derby turned out great, too! DS won 2nd place in Best Concept Car! He didn't win any of the races, but he's been carrying that trophy with him since he won it. Seriously. He takes it downstairs to watch TV, he brings it to the dinner table, he takes it to his room with him to sleep.

Yesterday, we were huge layabouts. I read 5 books. It was awesome. I made my Moroccan Meatballs in Tomato Sauce with Poached Eggs for dinner. Tonight is a crockpot Italian Sausage Stew.

And for more great news, I lost 2 lbs! I don't like that I have to do Slimfast to do it, but it's working. Yay!

Monday People

I'm a Monday person. I love them. Probably because I don't have a regular day job to go to. Whatever the reason, I always feel like I get a fresh start on Mondays.

Yesterday, recognizing what a wretched week I'd had before, I sat down with pen and paper and decided that I would NOT let myself sit in the doldrums this week.

Part of this new revitalization is the realization that I don't seem to be able to control my calorie count at all. Portion size, not a problem. Snacking last week was a big issue, but it usually isn't. Not to mention, my 'working out' has been nonexistent. In any case, I'm not losing weight.

So I'm doing something that's rather drastic for me. I'm trying the Slimfast thing. 25 lb in 12 weeks, says the plan. Which is only 2 lb/week, so it's not like a quick fix.

I'm horrible at diets. They always make me want to eat. But I can still have my regular dinners on this plan, so that's good. And I ought to be eating fruits and veggies for snacks anyway. Yes, they're packed with chemical weirdness, but as I said, I can't depend on my own 'eye' to judge how much I'm eating.

So today's plan is:
Curves
Grocery shopping
Writing
Min Maint
Kitchen
Laundry
Dinner out (ok, I'll probably splurge, but I'll do my best)

Easy peasy, lemon squeezy!

Bad Mom Alert

Obviously, I have screwed up somewhere.

My son pitched a fit this morning -- in his quiet, "I'm mad at you but I'm just going to sit here with red eyes and think miserable thoughts at you" kind of way -- because I didn't have the right kind of cereal in the house.

Now, I think he just woke up cranky and if it hadn't been cereal, it would have been something else.

But dang. We weren't OUT of cereal, we just didn't have anything neon-colored.

So I'm torn between feeling like a bad mom because I don't have the right kind of cereal or going all militant-vegan-sugarless on his scrawny little behind. Probably something in between is the right answer.

Finally!

The 3 1/2 day weekend is over! The kids had only a half-day on Friday. So let's get this schedule straight:
Christmas holiday.
The first week back to school, they only went 3 days, then had 2 snow days.
The second week (last week), they went 4 1/2 days.
The third week (this week) is only 4 days.

Hmph. Maybe I'm just cranky because I can't settle on anything to read. I started "The Dracula Dossier" but even though the story seems interesting, I'm just not in the mood.

I also started reading the anthology I'm in -- yes, I'm a huge chicken and I'm too scared to read my own books. Not least because the last anthology I was in, I didn't like the other two stories. That sounds awful, but it's true.

Anyway, I've read one of the other three stories in this anthology and I liked it. Yay! But I'm just not in the mood for romantic comedy right now.

There's a book on my shelf that I've been meaning to read for months. In fact, a writer's forum that I'm on is doing a workshop on Steampunk this week, so I really, really SHOULD read this book. ("Clockwork Heart" by Dru Pagliasotti) But now I feel forced to read it, which makes me cranky.

Hmph. This is starting to feel an awful lot like a "Bag it and go back to bed" kind of morning. I woke up two hours early with a crick in my neck and a horrible fear that I'd slept on my glasses and either broken them or bent them beyond recognition. I hadn't, but it was a touchy few moments while I looked for them.

I still have the crick in my neck.

I also feel like I SHOULD go to the gym this morning. I haven't been since October.

Ok. So. Must be more positive. Must Be Merry!

I'm doing a slimming challenge with some other writer friends and the challenge this week is to get 5 fruits/veggies every day. I know I made it yesterday, so I just have to figure out the rest of the week.

Still need to make my menu for the week, too, so maybe I'll lean veggie on that.

And I'm moving forward on "The Misplaced Marriage" (Victorian historical). I don't know why I write historicals. Everything I've published has been paranormal romantic comedy. People like my paranormal romantic comedies! So why would I screw that up by writing a not-comic historical?

Because I am obviously dumber than I think I am, whale-sized ass notwithstanding.

And because I like that story. There. Dammit. I'm going to write it and Be Merry!

So, off to write for a bit, then the gym, then the grocery shopping. It'll be a full day.

Progress

Yesterday, I reorganized my pantry and discovered that although I do have some stuff in there that I could live without, I'm pretty well-stocked, overall. Need more canned tomatoes, but my pantry holds a lot of healthy ingredients.

I can do this.

It doesn't feel like Saturday + Recipe

My days are all messed up. DH gets the entire Christmas holiday off, so everyone's been in the house since the 23rd. It's fun to have us all together without worrying about schedules, but now that Christmas is over, I'm ready to go back to 'normal,' such as it is.

Also, we missed the trash pickup for the 2nd week in a row since the days are all messed up. We don't generate a ton of trash, but I'm going to be hard pressed to get the lid fastened next week.

In the spirit of Eating Well, I'll offer my easy, quick Hoppin John recipe.

2 strips of bacon
1/2 large onion, chopped
1 celery stick, chopped
1 large carrot, peeled and chopped
1/2 red bell pepper, chopped
1/2 green bell pepper chopped

2 cans black-eyed peas, drained and rinsed
2 cups chicken stock
1/2 tsp dried thyme
1/2 tsp Tony Chachere's seasoning (it's a staple at our house -- it goes on everything) If you don't have it, then salt, pepper, cayenne, garlic powder...whatever seasonings call to you at the moment.

Fry the bacon in a saucepan until brown. Remove and reserve for something else that needs cooked bacon. Dump in all the chopped veggies. Cook over medium heat, stirring often, until the onions are golden and soft, 8-10 minutes.

Add the black-eyed peas, stock, and seasonings. Bring to a boil, cover halfway, then simmer for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally.

I don't add the full 2 cups of stock because I don't like my Hoppin John too wet. I usually serve it over rice, but last night, it was just a side dish on its own.

New Years Resolutions: Eat Drink and Be Merry!

Resolution 1: Write every day!
Resolution 2: Lose weight!
Resolution 3: Be on time!

As if putting exclamation marks behind them makes them more likely to happen. snort

I went through my blog a little while ago and searched out all my old resolutions or goals or things to aim for or whatever I like to call them that year. I think the only one I succeeded at was the one where for one year I was going to Drink More Coffee.

I liked that. That was a good resolution. I made that resolution work.
Since I’m pretty much at my limit, caffeine-wise, though, I think it’s time for a new resolution.

Eat Drink and Be Merry!

Like any good resolution, though, I should break it down into concrete goals.

Eat: What? Eat more Twinkies? More Oreos? More chocolate? Given the size of my ever-expanding ass, I should probably cut back on the Twinkies and Oreos. Try to take my chocolate though, and you’ll likely draw back a bloody stump.

How about if I resolve to eat more Good Food? More whole foods, more local, sustainable, naturally or organically grown foods. Home cooked meals that showcase new cooking skills, that emphasize flavor, as opposed to convenience foods that we shovel in because we’re too rushed to enjoy them. I think that my new copy of Joy of Cooking and I are going to develop a very close relationship.

Drink: Good coffee. Good wine. More water.

The good thing about being married to a guy who likes a good deal is that you end up getting nifty things like Keurig coffee machines for outrageously low prices. As he’s now gainfully employed and no longer at home with me during the day, we found that we no longer made a pot of coffee in the morning because most of it went to waste. Dude. I can only drink so much coffee before I start to twitch, you know? Enter the Keurig with those cute little pods. We can even use our own coffee, so now my caffeine consumption is back to previous levels. Aaaahhhhh.

We live near this awesome liquor store (they gots wine what comes in biiiig bottles – with screw tops!) I’m kidding. It’s a great shop that does weekly wine tastings with knowledgeable people who talk about wine and food pairings, history of the vineyards, different flavors to look for – all that stuff that I used to think was for people who had their corks screwed on too tightly, you know what I mean? It’s fascinating. I’m serious. I’m totally into this now and we’ve found some amazing wines. They’re not stuck up at all and they’ll as soon recommend a wine that costs $12 as one that costs $40 or more. Which reminds me, vintners are starting to use screw tops on even their expensive wines. Yay for easy access! The store is moving further up the road this spring, though, and it’ll be harder to get to them. I’m going to miss going there on Saturdays. I’ll need to find a new wine shop. Pity me. *gg*

As for water, my husband, crazy romantic that he is, got us all Klean Kanteens for Christmas. It’s good, though. Mine’s bright red and I like it. I drank a whole bottle of water yesterday and that’s something I rarely do.

Between the coffee, the wine and the water, it’s a good thing I splurge on the nice TP.

Finally, Be Merry.

I have a relatively short list of things that make me happy. Being with my family, eating, drinking, reading and writing, watching movies where Vin Diesel takes off his shirt. For the last third of the year, I struggled with writing, though, and it was painful.

This year, I resolve to be merry as I write. All year. Whether I write flash fiction, short stories, novellas, or even write that novel I’ve been meaning to get around to, I want to enjoy writing. I want to pull up to my keyboard every day and look forward to getting the words on the screen. No doubt, I’ll encounter times when the words won’t come or the scene won’t work. It won’t even surprise me to find that I’ll have to abandon a story partway through. But I hope to remember that I’m fortunate enough to write because I love to write.

Let 2010 be the year where we can all Eat Drink and Be Merry!!