fat tuesday

traditionally, fat tuesday means pancakes for dinner. i don't know why. i remember going to either to church for pancake dinner or mom fixing pancakes or...i don't know if it was more than once, but i vaguely remember going with our neighborhood friends to the tom thumb grocery store parking lot where, i think, a boy scout troop sponsored a pancake dinner in richardson.

anyone remember that?

lent is also a good way to kick start a diet. i given up dr pepper, chocolate (not together) and one time i gave up foods that started with a 'c'. that was hard. i was thinking, you know, cookies, candy, cake and chocolate, but it also included corn and cereal and other things i didn't realize i would have to give up after i made that decision.

i don't think that is why lent was invented, though...to kick start a diet. actually i do know why we have the lenten season. we are supposed to give up something we love, so that we will know suffering, much like jesus did in the desert for 40 days and also, it's to prepare us for easter. there is something in the bible about our bodies are temples for god and we must keep them clean. i don't know where it says it. i thought i would have come across it in psalms. we are doing a program of reading the bible in 90 days and i just finished psalms...well sorta'. i kinda' scanned it. i am going to go back and read psalms, 4 each day, for lent, because it is hard to read page after page of psalms. i think it is because, to me, it's like reading hymns in a hymnal and one cannot quite get as much out of a hymn when one is just reading through.

anyhoo, about keeping our bodies clean is a good reason, for me, to give up the many many bad habits i have accrued lately. so, i am putting a stop to: soft drinks, especially dr pepper, over eating, no more fast food lunches, and all of the things i indulged in today for fat tuesday...

no more venti-sized lattes or iced coffees. i am not giving up starbucks altogether. i am just limiting myself to 1 tall latte or iced coffee a day. 'just'...that makes it seem better, but seriously, i go to starbucks every morning during the work week.

also, no more bought breakfasts, except when i am travelling. goodbye, zucchini walnut muffins.



no more fast food lunches, except when travelling. and when i am travelling, it cannot be fried foods or french fries.

no more dr peppers. there are no exceptions on this subject.

btw, that texas toast was really good.

no more green tea frappacinos. not even a tall, not even without classic syrup, not even without whipped cream.

no more.

even though green tea is good for me.

i just will drink iced green tea...straight up...without sweetener of any kind...not frapped.


no more HUGE dinners. proper portions, where half your plate contains vegetables, not mashed potatoes. (btw, i ate more than 1 spear of asparagus...i promise)

and, really(?), i ate the whole steak. even husband scott set aside half of his for tomorrow.

also, steak and mashed potatoes are waaaaaaaay more tasty than pancakes.

and, lastly, no more whole chocolate bars. a bite of dessert is plenty, thank you.

theo's hazelnut crunch is soooooooo good. it's got a sweet crunch of toffee, a teeny bit of saltiness enrobed in milk chocolate (i like saying enrobed...sounds pretentious, doesn't it?). theo's milk chocolate mint is also really really good.

also, do not ever buy this hot chocolate. it is so so rich and creamy and it is waaaaaaaaay too good. it can become a very very very bad habit, especially with graham crackers which can be used to scrape the last bit out of the cup. i'm serious. do not go to your local central market and buy it. trust me.

happy fat tuesday and i hope you added a few pounds to your body as i did today.

hmmmmmmmmm

tonight, i made a simple supper of cauliflower soup and tunafish sandwiches. husband scott requested his fat free cheese be put on his sandwich. i sighed and said yes, but i am still using real mayo in the tunafish. so when i made the sandwiches and topped his with his fat free cheese and mine with regular cheese, i made sure that i kept his sandwich on one side and mine on the other so, i wouldn't mix them up after they were through toasting...

but, i really didn't need to keep track of which is which, did i?

last night

i watched the grammies.

i had no idea who adele was before christmas. my sister-in-law had asked for her '21' cd for christmas, so i started to pay attention, and now, i cannot get enough. she has the most amazing voice.

truly amazing.

i also had no idea of the kind of person she was until last night when i watched this on 60 minutes, before the grammies. she is so down to earth and so refreshing. i LOVE her accent.

i hope she never changes.

on the subject of changes...

rest in peace, whitney houston. you had such a powerful voice and so very beautiful.

wow...where did january go

so much for new year's resolutions.
it is almost valentine's day.

can you see it? look very closely.
it is almost like those pictures within a picture where you had to stare at it and another image showed up? i totally could not see the image...ever. so, this is the same...sorta'. look veeeeerrrrrry closely. see it?

it's my car where someone drew a heart on my dirty car. awwwwwwww.

and look what else i found in my dirty car...
you know what this means, right?
that's right...i need to clean my car (heh heh).

just kidding.

every where you look, there is a little reminder that valentine's day is just around the corner.

i asked for ceiling fans for our new-in-the-making patio covering. and, for date night, we are going to see 'a separation'. how romantic is that?
of course it figures, because right after husband scott proposed to me, over 30 years ago, we went to the movies and saw 'kramer vs kramer'.

nothing says romance more than movies about getting a divorce, right?

how are you celebrating?

mmmmmmm...delicious!

didn't have time to go grocery shopping, but had picked up some squash bisque earlier from feastivities. i heated it up, with trepidation, because i don't like a sweet squash soup. i don't like it when apples (and i LOVE apples) or something like that are part of the ingredients. that is why i love only one type of pumpkin soup made from fresh pumpkin, bell peppers, onions and tomatoes...nothing sweet.

this was sooooooooooooo good!

and paired with a grilled cheddar and gouda sandwich and a crisp honeycrisp apple chocolate chip cookie...mmmmmmmmmm.

just when i start feeling sorry for myself...

lately, i have been feeling sorry for myself...slicing off a teeny tiny bit of my finger, which still hurts, the 49 pound loss i need to have happen real soon, my g.e.r.d. diagnosis, and the fact that i will be turning 55 soon...has put a real dampener on my mood.

so, i feel like i am walking around like this...

but then, i read this...

marathon man

in the star-telegram.

shame on me.

you have to read the article. he is a true inspiration. he has had to teach himself to walk 10 times because of his multiple sclerosis diagnosis. he has completed 50 by 50 challenge run, which is to run 50 marathons, one in each of the 50 states by the time one is 50. 

what a feat.

when i feel at a loss, i will think of this man and buck up. after all, my finger will heal, my g.e.r.d. will probably disappear with the 49, very much doable, weight loss, and according to the baby boomers, 55 is the new 40 (whatevs).

so stop feeling sorry for yourself, ann...seriously.

stop it.

utah

husband scott and i were in utah last week. we had never been. (scott just corrected me. he has been to utah. it was the second time for me since i helped michelle move). it is so pretty. i wish we had more to time to spend there. when i helped daughter michelle move there from arkansas via texas, we couldn't stop and enjoy all the great stuff between texas and utah, especially the grand canyon. it's hard enough maneuvering a 14 foot u-haul truck.

i would have loved to take the time to do that again. instead we had a week and flew to las vegas, took a shuttle to st george where michelle picked us up to drive about an hour to cedar city. cedar city is a little city of about 28, 000 & about 5400 feet above sea level with mountains all around. it has a few sweet places to walk around...

we walked around suu and i took a few photos of some pretty trees, but they're on michelle's computer, so here is a photo of us walking around the trails up the hill from milt's steakhouse (mmmmmmmmm). although it doesn't look that cold (note to self: puffy jackets make one even more puffier), it was. there was patches of snow...

and bear tracks!










just kidding...no bear tracks, but then, again, there could be...or not...



we were about 40 minutes drive from brian head ski resort. so, we drove up and skied a couple of days. the first day looked like this...

this is a view from our window. so beautiful.

this what we skied in on our last day. it was snowing and really cold. and it was very foggy and misty. mist when it is icy kinda' hurts your face...


it was also very hard to see past about 5 feet, so it made skiing waaaaaaaaaaaaaaay more exciting.


plus, it was deep powder...well...deep for us since we are use to the icier packed snow of colorado. i kept my weight on my heels just to keep my toes up and that isn't, probably, the proper way to ski...


of course, i am definitely NOT a proper skier...


not by a long shot.

doesn't michelle look cute with her fox hat and go pro?


i think so.

the next day, we drove about an hour from cedar city to zion national park, in dru's awesome jeep. we decided to challenge ourselves to a hike up angel's landing. that was the sorriest performance by me...ever. i had to stop, ALL THE TIME, because i was out of breath and my calves were burning. i was so disappointed in myself, but we made it to scout's lookout.

it was soooooooo beautiful. scout's landing is so worth every calf burn and every ragged breath i took.

i chose not to go on to the summit. i would like to say it was because it was recommended not to because of snow and ice, and also because of my hurt finger, but reality was that i was too out of shape to tackle it.

husband scott & dru started out towards the summit, but scott decided it was too intimidating with those icy, snowy and slippery conditions (& tennis court shoes...really?).

michelle and dru have made it to the summit, (twice for dru). i would like to return, some day, and try again.


i would have to make sure NOT to read this sign as i pass it to screw up my courage to continue...

it says something about 6 people have died climbing angel's landing, since 2004.

scary...




also, hurt fingers make it harder















after our climb, we went to eat lunch at blondie's diner in springdale. it was dee-double-licious. the french fries were really good, especially with the fry sauce...

which is mayonaise and ketchup mixed together, and it is a utah thing. apparently one can ask for fry sauce anywhere in utah and they (the utahans) will know what that is.









but, you know what really made this diner so special?

it was because of lori. she was so very nice and has the best sense of humor. she truly made this place extra special. i wanted to take her home with me. i love her!

seriously, she made this diner top on my list, and the lady behind her helped her serve and she was great, too. of course, when you work at a place where you see this from your window...

how can one not be in a better frame of mind, right?

i did a bad bad thing

i have failed.

i was trying to take on sister laura's 100 days of not buying stuff. i made it 8 days. eight! that's bad.

i thought i could resist jason wu's target commercials. in fact, i didn't take a trip to target until today, thinking that the racks would look like this...

this is what target looked like when missoni hit. i went over right after work at 12:30pm (i work part time) ON THE SAME DAY the collection was first available. i was so bummed out.

maybe, other people were as bummed as i was and didn't camp out, waiting for the doors to open on sunday. maybe it was because it was super bowl sunday. maybe others had made new year's resolutions not to spend lots of money in 2012...or had taken the 100 day challenge.

whatever the reason, i show up today, 2 1/2 days after the launch and bought this...

look how cute!

i totally don't have a nipped in waist, but i thought folding it in would make a better photo.

what do you think?

doesn't it look like spring?
























oh, and the touch of color?

mossimo skinny belts in bright colors! i bought 3 of them (pale pink not shown). i figure i could wear one of them or a pair of them. look at the rose gold colored buckles. there were some other colors i could have bought, as well, but i didn't want to go overboard. although at $12.99, one could do that, right?

jason wu, i love you!

actually, i just said that because it rhymes, but he is so cool.

even his tag is cool.


























hope when i wear his dress, i look as cool...