Boo!!!

Happy Halloween!

So my daughter informed me that she is going trick or treating. She will be 18 years old next month. I told her I hoped she was dressing up as a 12-year old, since that's about the maximum age for treating. She said no. She is going as a bat. Confused as to why the bat costume involves a black tutu, but I guess that's neither here nor there. I'll try and sneak some pictures of her. Oh, and she has nail designs of bats on her finger nails that are so cute.

I'm going to dress up the Rottweiler as a cat (if I can find the cat ears) and let her sit outside and scare kids with me tonight. I'm not dressing up the cats. Cats don't play those kinds of games. My daughter thinks we won't get many trick or treaters because the rich neighborhood is down the street and any 'good' parent would drive their kids to the rich houses. That's fine with me. I have already broken into my goodies of Heath bars, Kit Kats, Rolos (my fave), Reese's Pieces, and Milk Duds (another fave).

It's the the little things in life that make me  happy...like these beautiful Simply Vera house slippers. I love these things. I think I'm going to ask for a matching robe for Xmas. I hate walking barefoot on  my hardwood floors. My feet always feel gritty and my socks get really dirty, so these are perfect.

So I'm kind of selfish beyotch sometimes. I made these delicious crab-stuffed mushrooms yesterday. I was going to take some to my boyfriend's house, but I ate them all. 

http://allrecipes.com/recipe/savory-crab-stuffed-mushrooms/

I didn't follow the recipe. Nothing new there. I forgot the egg and I didn't have dill and they were still awesome.

14 hours at State Fair

When I bought my old house, I had the entire house remodeled so everything is new EXCEPT for the yard. Now, I'm dealing with a plot of dirt that has been neglected for 40 years.

Saturday, I decided to rid myself of some of those junk trees that were growing in the flower bed on the side of my house. Well, it was liking pulling one thread and unraveling an entire sweater.

I thought I'd cut down a small tree and dig up the root. Well the roots went under my house, all over my yard, and then would be attached to another tree. Then I had a root the size of my wrist going under my flower bed. I used a chain saw and cut it out of the bed and then realized that it probably belonged to my Pecan tree about 10 ft away. Oops. 

Oh and while I was in my root-cutting frenzy, I accidentally clipped the power to my a/c unit. Anyway, I did yard work for about 8 hours on Saturday and was worn out....so how to spend Sunday? How about.....

14 hours at the State Fair (See photos at bottom of page)

So here's a recap of how to spend 14 hours at the fair. 9:30am to 11:30 pm.

1. Figure out how to pay for DART parking and get tickets for DART and take DART train.
2. Wait in line to go through metal detector to get in to fair.
3. First things first: Fletcher's corny dog and sausage sandwich.
4. Go see memorial to Big Tex and take pictures.
5. Go shop for hot tubs. Talk to all the sales people. Realize hot tubs are so expensive that boyfriend decides he misses his boat and would rather have a new boat than a hot tub.
6. Let the Dead Sea Salt guy perform mini-facials on us. We passed on the $400 worth of products, but yesterday bought same products on Amazon for $90.
7. Go the midway and avoid the games and rides this year. Did rides last year.
8. Go in the greenhouse area with the pumpkin carving and model trains.
9. Go to the Sensodyne vendor and brush our teeth and get free stuff.
10. Take pictures in Chevrolet booth.
11. Go to 5 hour energy booth. We are both winners on the wheel and get free headphones and energy drinks. This was awesome because my cat just ate my headphones recently....well the cord.
12. Spend at least an hour at the Lottery Booth. Boyfriend spun the star so he got to go into the money booth. He caught 30 bills which according to the lady is really good. He is very proud of his physical prowess. I was dancing to "Jump, jump, jump" and the announcer gave me a free lottery shirt for having spunk. We also got tote bags which were much needed by this time.
13. Go to the fiber and food pavilions. Felt the need to see the butter sculpture. Boring.
14. Car Show. I think I posted last year that a new Corvette was $76K. This year it was $125K+. Sat in a convertible Camaro, but windows too small and I could barely see over dash. Sat in the convertible Ford Mustang. Boyfriend said that the Mustang looked better on me, but I still think my Z4 looks best on me. The Hyundai Genesis and some new sporty Scion were cool. 
15. Getting a little tired. Found an area with a TV so sat and watched Cowboys for a while. We bolted before the end of the game and the referee issues.
16. Bunny area. Looked at the beautiful award-winning bunnies. Went through the petting zoo. Probably won't do that again. If there was a fire, we'd be dead. It was packed and the animals were all full so they wouldn't eat the animal food.
17. By this time, it is already 4ish. Getting hungry again. Go to food court. Spend an hour in this crowd looking at the food trying to figure out what to eat. Decide on the tator twisters. This was a time-consuming venture as everyone else decided on the tator twisters too.
18. Take pictures at Bounty  paper towel booth surfing...but I looked the wrong way.  Whoops. He said to pretend a wave was coming beside me so I looked other way.
19. Feet are tired, so we go to the vendor area with the massage chairs. They have different types. We each get a chair and get a 15-minute massage. We switch chairs and do another 15-minutes. We also spend time talking to the sales guy about these $7500+ chairs. These are awesome, but after a few minutes, the new boat is sounding better than a big chair.
20. We ended up stopping to watch some jazz musicians. Bob the toothless state fair guy is dancing with all the ladies. It is a sight to see, so we hang around a while. We see a totally drunk girl fall on the cement and take her very drunk boyfriend down with her. Apparently drunk people bounce right back up.
21. We go to the Chinese Lantern exhibit and rest 45 minutes until it gets dark and then we take the tour.
22. Hang in the beer garden and watch the light parade.
23. Go the laser light show.
24. Back on the DART and we are worn out.

Chinese Lantern Exhibit

Sausage sandwich

Big Tex memorial

Resting in the greenhouse looking like Buckwheat

Catching Cash

First ever DART ride

Crisis averted

So today, Peaches turned a specific way and under her external fixator, her skin was all red. I freaked and called the vet thinking she might have an infection. She was able to see us right away. The vet comes in and says that is not red, it is hot pink like the gauze on her fixator. Crisis averted. However, they told me she needs to be in the crate for the entire 6 weeks. Shoot, she's been jumping around all over the house.

So I figured out this Petite diet plan. Basically eat salads, chicken, fish, shrimp and NEVER have a piece of meat. Well tonight, the buck stops on my grill. I'm making a little filet mignon. I so can't wait.

I'm really enjoying my Greek and Roman Mythology course from the University of Pennyslvania.

https://www.coursera.org/

There is a lot of reading. I just finished Odyssey. You read the books and then watch video lectures followed by tests each week. I also have two writing assignments to do. 

Hope everyone is enjoying this great Texas weather.

Peaches is home

$200 for x-rays and medication 

$1000 for orthopedic surgeon

$500 in other surgery costs 

Peaches back home...Priceless! 

Peaches was hit by a car right in front of my house. She is such a trooper. Her femur was broken crossways and detached. They pinned it together and put some external fixator on her. You can't see it in the picture. It's on the other hip. She is walking around pretty well and she seems as happy as before the trauma. Zena slept on the floor by her crate with her all night long. The dogs seem to sense that she is injured. They are very careful around her.

So, I did the Petite Advantage Diet last week (for the most part). I stuck exactly to plan for 4 days and then I just ate pretty healthy on the weekend. Down 5 lbs in a week. Yea! The mango salsa recipe was terrible. The mango was much better when it was cooked with shrimp and basil.

Update on Hayley. Rudy's let her rescind her 2 weeks notice and gave her a raise. She is quitting the Lemon Bar after 3 days of working there. She did not like it at all. The good news is that this weekend, we picked up brisket, two half chickens, jalapeno sausage, a bottle of sauce, a package of buns and it was $20. That 50% mom discount is awesome. 

I was watching the end of the Cowboys game and my boyfriend made me put the game on pause so he could go to the bathroom. He says the Cowboys have a better chance of winning if he is watching.....Should I have told him that the officials did not stop play while he was in the bathroom? 

Dang it Cowboys. Well at least it was an exciting game. I feel partly to blame for their loss because I got busy running around and forgot to put on all my Cowboys stuff, but then again, I've worn it for many other games and it sure didn't help.

Oh, and then my beloved Longhorns....I couldn't even watch the 2nd half. I chose to go plant my flower bulbs and water my grass seed. You can thank me for the rain Saturday night. It would have never rained if I hadn't watered. Happy Monday!!!

Uh oh

Hayley has been at her new job for two days and so far....she hates it. I won't go into details, but I was quite appalled by what she has told me about one of the managers....Completely inappropriate. 

Tonight, a different manager will be there. I told her to give it a week and if she still hates it, that she should just stay at her other job. The bad news is that they told her they'd let her waitress in a few weeks which could be good money. 


The good news if she quits, I still get my Rudy's half-price discount. Bada-bing. I doubt Rudy's St. Louis ribs are on my new diet.

So far the Petite Advantage Diet is not so bad. I'm full all the time. Yesterday's lunch was a sweet potato with reduced fat sour cream, reduced fat cheese, pinto beans and raw broccoli. The raw, hard, broccoli on a soft steamy potato sucked. Next time, I'll steam the broccoli first. Tonight, I'm having scallops with mango salsa. Curious to see how that tastes. This diet requires a lot of cooking. Good thing I like to cook. I think a lot of people could never stick with it. I had an open-faced BLT (turkey bacon of course) with cottage cheese. Cottage cheese is okay if you add cinnamon and Stevia.

So last night, I hung up all my Halloween stuff.Tonight, I'm going to make some Jackolanterns and roast up some pumpkin seeds. I'm going to try NOT to burn them this year.

So is my brain not processing correctly? I thought the weatherman told me it was going to be a beautiful 82 degrees today. I went out at lunch. It was 65 and raining. Maybe he was daydreaming about Florida.

Petite Advantage Diet

I was browsing at the library and found this book. Well since I've not lost any weight lately, I decided to check it out. I would like to lose a minimum of 10 lbs and ideally 15, but I haven't done much to even try lately. Well today is the day. I will update the blog as I go along.

The plan is 1100 calories a day for 2 days, followed by a 1600-calorie day. The plan is high protein, high fiber, low calorie, and low fat. You eat more calories in the early part of the day. He recommends some fiber capsules before dinner. On this diet, you can also drink tea, coffee, and wine (in moderation of course). He says wine with a meal works to metabolize food faster. YES!!!!

The book says petites should NOT do long sessions of intense cardio as it just makes you hungry and even 28 extra calories a day on a short person really adds up. It says 3 times a week of weight training and 60-90 minutes a day of unintense (is that a word?) cardio. Well the exercise definitely is up to par with me. Last night, I did my favorite workout: 20 minutes of weights, 15 minutes of cardio, and 15 minutes in the sauna. 

So this diet plan is very specific. Typically, this is what kills most diet plans, but I have the time to cook and plan, so I have no excuses. This morning, I had scrambled egg whites with turkey bacon, reduced fat colby cheese, and pineapple. I could barely eat it all I was so full. Lunch is 1/2 sweet potato with reduced fat sour cream and cheese, pinto beans and broccoli. Dinner is fish with spinach salad and ONE glass of wine. I'm planning on sticking to the 21-day meal plan. 

So Hayley got a new job as a hostess at a restaurant. http://www.thelemonbar.net/
They gave her a nice raise and told her they would do another money review and raise in 90 days. They also told her that she could wait tables when she turns 18 which is in 8 weeks. 

Not just a blonde moment......40 minutes

Happy October! I'm going to pull out my Halloween decorations soon. I did buy my new cute napkins yesterday.

So I've had fleas in my yard and on my animals all summer long. Yesterday, the Home Depot guy recommended a different spray with Nylar, so I bought it. I came home and  hooked it to the hose. I sprayed the flower beds really well because the dogs like to sleep in there. I also did the front and side yards. I went around to my big backyard and did all of that too including under the shed.

So I go to unhook from the hose and the bottle was full. UGH. This bottle didn't only have the tab to open it  up, but another button that had to be turned and then pushed in. So anyway, I had to start all over. Basically, I spent 40 minutes spraying my yard with water. 

Last night Hayley and I went to pick up some Whataburgers. The 2-lane drive through was packed so we thought we would go in. Wrong move. One couple brought 3 items back to complain to the manager, then the kids immediately in front of us ended up bringing two items back to the manager. This place was packed. That poor manager. My boyfriend said that at the end of her shift she needed to tell her employees to quit going out back to smoke pot on their breaks, so that they could get the orders right. LOL.

So the Cowboys were so disappointing last night. I put myself out of  my misery and went to bed early.