Spring is in the air . . .

Went to John's this past weekend to check up on my buds, Hera and Isis. I told Isis she could sit and watch us do the jigsaw puzzle if she stayed in the box. She surprised me by actually staying in the box for a while, but she still managed to get into mischief! We managed to finish the puzzle anyway, a splendid old TUCO, a thrift store treasure. Isn't it lovely? And isn't she a cute little stinker?

I went with John to look at new furniture for his living room. Now that Hera and Isis are declawed (awwwww), he can get go ahead with his purchase ANYTIME! LOL  The girls are doing well after their procedure and will soon be back to full speed, sweet little girls. They rested a lot last weekend.

I saw a book at the thrift store titled Life is Too Short to Fold Your Underwear! LOL

Saw a couple of good short films. "Seeds" (damn you Monsanto!) and "Bargain" (lol this one turned out just like I wanted it to). The discovery that I can play favorites from YouTube on my ROKU has me reliving the 70's, remember those TV movies of the week? The opening music has me flashing back to my childhood! LOL

John was still doing the vegan thing and we got hooked on soup, salad, and that vegan garlic toast. Good eats. John whipped up this tomato soup . . .

Midge and Finn continue to be sort of friendly. Very strange. The Smidge caught her first bird of the season today! At least the first bird of spring that she tried to bring in the house! ARGHHHH. 'Tis the time of year to check the cats' mouths before you open the door I guess.

Midge has a foot fetish.

My sweet Finn.

John's last weigh-in for his Biggest Loser competition at work is tomorrow. He is well on his way to success in the getting paid to lose weight for the on-line challenge that ends in July. I am still faltering. Grrrrrr.

Glad that big snow missed us. Though a snow day would have been nice! LOL

My knee is feeling better. My insurance approved that really expensive shot that helped my knee years ago, back when I was still playing softball. I'm going to go get it mid-April.

Had a good St. Patrick's Day Party. No ambulances! And I learned a new song courtesy of the OTHER Kathleen . . .

I'm a rambler I'm a gambler
I'm a long way from home
And if you don't like me then leave me alone
I eat when I'm hungry and I drink when I'm dry
and if the good Lord is willing, I'll live 'til I die.
 
I think those are the words. You'd think as many times as we sung it at that party I'd remember the tune too. . . but there were these Irish Flag shots. And the shot glasses were oversized! The food was outstanding. My favorite party food of the year. I suggested to the Other Kathleen that we have another St. Patrick's Day party later in the year, and I think it's a go.


Anyway no news is good news. Life is blah, work is blah, I am blah. Ready for some nice weather and to have a knee that feels good enough to log some miles on the towpath.

Take care folks,

Kay :)

Happy St. Patrick's Day

Something weird is going on with Midge and Finn. They are, dare I say it, becoming a little friendly again! Weird. That is 32 pounds of cat there. All of us have put on a little winter weight! Midge has been outside for hours the last couple of days, stalking robins. Spring is here!

John got his girls declawed this week. They are doing ok. I'll check on them next weekend. John's two kitties, if you total their weight, weigh as much as Miss Midge.

St. Pat's party tomorrow. Looking forward to corned beef, colcanon, and creamed cabbage. And beer!

Got a cortisone shot in my knee Thursday. Ouch. I think it is feeling better though.

Dad is doing well, a little peppier. Mom told me that doc upped his thyroid meds, so I bet that has something to do with it.

I never would have watched a Golden Girls marathon before, but now that I'm in the AARP it seems like the thing to do.

Boot Camp. April 1st. For beginners, or just old lazy asses who haven't exercised for a long long time. I'm seriously considering it. Which means that I cut the ad out and look at it once in a while.

Kay :)

Hedonistic Eater

I'm a hedonistic eater.

Mom and Dad had their 54th anniversary Saturday. He's doing pretty good.  He's off coumadin now, and I think he feels better for it. He has a good appetite and is looking forward to Spring. His ears still ring and bug him, but that has been going on for years, he just doesn't remember! LOL

I don't know why John laughed so hard when I said "I only exercise for the endorphins"? Sometimes he is very odd.

John is doing well on the Healthy Wage Get Paid to Lose Weight Challenge. I'm a little behind.  Must be that vegan thing that is working for him. Plus he takes off 3 meals a week. I'm lucky if I'm on 3 meals a week. I'm waiting for something to click. Besides my trick knee . . . and ok I'm way behind.

John is getting Hera and Isis declawed Wednesday! Poor little girls. First time one of  us has had a cat declawed. Also the first time any of us has had a really nice house. LOL I had Finn to the vet. That third eyelid that had a little tear is now torn all the way. As long as he doesn't have any problems, he doesn't need to have anything done. Whew!

And guess who is the newest member of AARP? Yep. Yep. Yep. I got my car insurance bill and it went up nearly $200! What the hell! I didn't file any claims. Car is older, I'm older. I did this on line comparison thing (wow, the phone rang within 30 seconds of my hitting the submit button!). Turns out the AARP quote was the cheapest. Saved me nearly $200, even with that big $16 AARP annual membership fee. I called to ask some questions, and talked to some kid. I commented that I thought you had to be older than 50 to get in AARP. He told me enthusiastically that "Oh yeah! You can get in when you are 49 1/2!" LOL 

Can you believe that couple on the Amazing Race last night that went out with their express pass! LOL  All that giggling woke me up.

Oy vey.

Kay

You are what you eat . ..

Last time I was at John's we watched "You Are What You Eat", a series where a British holistic nutritionist goes around and cures obese people by cleaning out their fridges and analyzing their bodies by pushing on their innards and looking at their pooh and changing their diets. The transformations after 8 weeks were incredible. I found it rather fascinating. She actually recreates their food intake for a whole week and lays it out in front of the peeps for a real eye opener. Hera and Isis liked it too. I've been thinking about that show and maybe I'll do that for the blog. Pictures coming soon . . . probably no pooh, but you never know. Live in suspense people. Plus I'm not even sure I can stay on a diet for 8 hours, let alone 8 weeks!

We tried these recipes from the Serious Eats Blog, the 30 days of veganism again:

http://www.seriouseats.com/recipes/2012/02/vegan-broccoli-rabe-and-antipasti-panini-olive-salad-recipe.html

 http://www.seriouseats.com/recipes/2012/01/brussels-sprout-fried-rice-with-crispy-cauliflower.html

Both were delish. We kind of modified the panini recipe a bit and made it more into a bruschetta topping served on top of toasted whole wheat english muffins.  And I guess baby broccoli isn't the same as broccoli rabe, but who cares? Good eats. Brussels sprouts in fried rice kick ass. If you are trying a new bean paste, don't load it on just because it smells sooooo good. I knew when I got too close to the hot pan and it knocked the breath out of me and I started coughing and had to get a kleenex for my running eyes and nose that John put too much in the rice. Yowzer it was hot! I numbed up after a few bites and really enjoyed it though, I think. 

 Miscellaneous Mallaney Stuff . . .

Story from Mom: Dad (after some serious thought) to Mom:  “You are about 75 years old now, right?” Mom (thinking wow, Bernie is pretty sharp today): “Yes, that’s right.” Dad: “I thought so! I knew you were older than me  . . . “  Mom is 75, Dad is 93.

Story from Mom: Dad is up and dressed at 6:00 a.m., which is kind of early for him now. He has been staying in bed later. When mom commented on his early rising, Dad seemed surprised and said “Well, it is 6:00!”

I asked John if his kittens still sat on/with him at every opportunity: jmallaney: If I fall asleep on the couch I wake up with them on me. Usually I wake up because one of them is trying to nurse in my hair. LOLOL

As a reminder, Dad has been living in the his current house since 1975. Dad (or should I say Bernie my bro), while fidgeting nervously, to Kay: “I’m a little nervous.” Kay: “About what?” Bernie: “Oh, all the moving around, you know.” Kay: “Dad, you ought to be getting used to things now, you have been here quite a while!” Dad (looking at me like I am nutso and with wry laughter): “I’ve only been here 4 hours! It’s going to take some time! At least I have a good boss though, I don’ t have to worry about that.” Then he pointed to Mom. LOL

This one will only amuse the relatives . . . Dad, in the car on our way to Veteran’s Clinic in Joliet for routine bloodwork: “I know this road! This is Larkin, where I go and visit Gus and Jean, my little sister . . . the noisy one.” LOLOL

Dad frets and worries about many things, including the furnace. He tells Mom EVERY single time it kicks on. If it doesn’t kick on for a while, he wants her to turn it up to make sure it is working. Well, go figure. Furnace went out the other night. Not totally, a little hot air would come out for a few seconds every once in a while, but the blower was out. Mom had put a call into the repairman (just the regular #, not the emergency # that adds on big $$$ lol) and at about 6:00 a.m. it was about 60 degrees in the house. Mom snuck into the bedroom and turned dad’s heated mattress pad back on, and Dad did stay in bed a little later than usual. Mom turned on the oven too (mom always insisted on a gas stove just in case of power/furnace outages and damn, that has come in handy on numerous occasions!). Well, Dad finally did get up, and do you think he noticed that it was way cooler in the house than usual, and that the furnace wasn’t working properly! No. LOL  At least not until the repairman showed up.

When I told John that Dad was the “hired hand” again, John wanted to know exactly what sort of work the hired man did around the house! Dad has been getting waited on hand and foot for years! LOL So one night I asked Dad if he had many chores around the house. He informed me (and gave me that patient look of his) that he was “pretty old” and that he can’t do as much as he used, to. Plus there aren’t as many chores around a farm in the winter as there are in the summer. LOL  
 
This snippet is from a column in the paper titled “I’m not fat, I just hoard food.” by David Porter, upon being told by his doctor that he needs to lose weight and eat a healthier, lower-fat diet:

There is a bowl of apples on our dining room table that are turning black. Fruit gets eaten in our house like snow melts in Alaska. Ice cream, on the other hand, disappears like 10-cent drafts.

Amen to that!

As a postscript to the furnace story, Mom showed me the bill for the repairs  . . . $18,697.53. LOL  

Yes, it was a mistake. Whew! 

Have a good week all!

Kay :)

What is going on down there!?

John hasn't let the kittens have run of the house yet, so the basement is very mysterious to them, especially when they hear us playing ping pong down there, laughing and swearing and yelling. And having super long rallies! Ha ha!  Isis is spying under the door. And the girls like to push their cat toys (their favorite is a crumpled up red wrapper from a tea bag), under the door.

A kitten tangle-up.

It's hard to tell which body part goes with which kitten sometime.

Dad is doing  OK. Mom said they made it to church today. He has been taken off coumadin. One doc said if he stays on it he could bleed out. The other doc says if he goes off the coumadin he'll have a stroke. Depressing thoughts. 

Dieting sucks. Annoying drama at work, thankfully not in my office, but it still has me riled. And my knee hurts again.

Big old raspberry and signing off.

Kay

Exciting Sunday

Tried a new recipe John sent me for Chile Rellenos Casserole.

I totally screwed it up. I forgot to put the eggs in. Rather a crucial error since I had already poured the fluid part of the recipe over the layered cheese, chicken, and roasted peppers. But it turned out OK. I think if I changed out the chicken for hot and spicy sausage, it would be a delicious breakfast casserole. I had extra red pepper so I threw some of that in with the pablanos. And I don't think I charred my peppers enough to make them easy to peel. Live and learn. I ended up rough chopping the peppers instead of just layering them in bottom of dish. Kind of  handy since I ended up dumping said layers in a bowl and stirring it all together anyway. Those roasted peppers had a ton of flavor. And it was a lovely dish to look at. Definitely a keeper.

I did a lot of laundry today and made some Duggar family laundry soap. What an exciting day!

Dad didn't make it to church today, he was a little dizzy. And he heard on the weather that we were going to have freezing rain, and that got him worried. He worries a lot.  He was happy to see the temps are going to be in the 60's on Tuesday (crazy!), but then they mentioned storms, so that got him worried again. But guess what? LOL He forgot, so everything is cool.

Kay :)

Last year at this time . . .

Has it really been only a year? It seems so long ago. On this night last year I was cleansing my entrails in preparation for surgery. http://iwannabealoser-kay.blogspot.com/2012/01/surgery-day.html Memories . . . (yes I was singing that). Hooray for colostomy reversals!
 
I'm on target for my Get Paid to Lose Weight Challenge. Lots and lots of days (and pounds!) to go.

I got crowned yesterday. Not in a royal way. In a dental way.

My knee and heel are doing OK. Not perfect. Maybe someone forgot to do her PT for a week? Time flies man.

Sign seen at a tax service - "APOCALYPSE AVERTED - WE ARE OPEN".

Watched more new movies. How weird is that? Alfred probably thinks I have foresaken him. Another Earth (excellent); Looper (good-surprised me more than once). I can't remember the other ones but you know, I may start watching more newer movies. Maybe.

I can't believe Kristen went home on Top Chef!

Dad is doing pretty good. He uses the walker all the time now. Mom still fusses over his not eating enough, but he always has room for his junk food. 

I have to watch Shadow of a Doubt now. Alfred Hitchcock, Joseph cotten, Good stuff.

Kay :)