TODAY'S WORKOUT: Tamilee Webb's Tighter Assets - Weight Loss

I now have photographic evidence that Tamilee Webb is trying to kill me. Right here:

It's not natural to be able to do these things. And, it's certainly not natural to be able to breathe and talk while doing them like she does. She's in league with the devil, I tell you!

Am I the only one who finds it odd that in "Escape (The Pina Colada Song)", the two people get caught cheating on each other, yet they just laugh about it and it seemingly makes their relationship better? I don't know about you, but I think, in the real world, they would have a screaming knockdown in the middle of "O'Malley's" and end up on Jerry Springer - not sipping pina coladas together and making love at midnight.

I've pretty much been a useless bag of mostly water today. I had a client drop off some alterations earlier this afternoon, then I went to Helga's House of Pain to get my underarms waxed. Once I returned from that appointment and fed Zoe her egg yolk/cat food glop, I went decidedly downhill very quickly. My lack of sleep from last night caught up with me big time. I decided to lie in bed with the kitties and attempted to watch a movie. The attempt was very short-lived. I woke up about an hour after Mr Moo got home from work. I was so out of it, I didn't even hear him come home. Made some dinner. Watched some Idol. Played with the cats for a bit. All in all, a whole lotta nothing. I didn't work out today or even clean up. But, alas, tomorrow is a new day and we shall start anew.

PS - Sanjaya's gotta go, peeps. It's a fact.

Wow. I was certainly wallowing in it this morning, wasn't I? I went back to bed, got another hour of sleep or so, had a shower, and I'm feeling a lot better. I'm still not thrilled about the whole Zoe situation, but I have to keep reminding myself that she's not dead yet. I need to enjoy whatever time I'm given with her and not waste it all crying about the inevitable. So, on that note, I'm off to find my kitties and give them both a hug and some treats.

Apparently, I'm harboring some guilt over Zoe's current medical status. I've had horrific nightmares the past few nights about her dying and me being directly responsible for it in a variety of ways. I've woken up in tears and haven't had a good night's sleep in several days. I got a whole whopping three hours of sleep last night. My conscious brain knows that it's not my fault her health is slowly starting to deteriorate. She's going to be 15 this year (so is Josie, who is several months older even), which means she's somewhere around 73-77 in equivalent human years. They're both at a stage in their lives when serious and terminal health problems can and will start to develop - no matter how often I take them to the vet or how much we medicate them.

It's. Just. Life.

I know that. I tell myself that over and over again. I thought I had myself convinced, but, given the way my subconscious is refusing to reconcile it, the guilt is still there. I guess I'm having the biggest problem with the fact that she's not acting sick. She's still lively. Her eyes and coat are bright and shiny. Her behavior hasn't changed. She's just wasting away before my eyes. In general, she's a large cat. She can nearly touch the kitchen counter tops when she stands up on her hind legs. When she was in her prime, she was a force to be reckoned with. When we would be in the kitchen, she would stand up with her paws on a cabinet door, rub against/push on my leg, and she would nearly knock me down. Now, when she does the same thing, I hardly notice she's even there. Picking her up is like picking up a piece of paper. It used to strain my back. There's just nothing to her now. She's barely 8 lbs and weighs less every time we take her in to be weighed. She's always been lean, but I've really noticed she's starting to look scary skinny lately. It's certainly not for lack of feeding her. Goodness, we give that cat all the food she'll eat. There's just something going on inside her that's not allowing her to maintain her weight. And, apparently, there's not a damn thing I can do about it.

I wonder sometimes if it would be easier if she were acting sick. If she were lethargic or lost the gleam in her eye, would it be easier to accept the fact that she may not be with us for much longer? I'm obviously having problems with the current state of things. It's hard to watch her running around and playing like she's still a kitten knowing we may end up having to put her to sleep because she simply got too skinny. Could I have done more to help her keep her weight up? Different food? Getting her on medication sooner? On the outside, she simply looks as if she's starving to death and, if that were the case, I would be completely to blame for it. However, she's not malnourished. Far from it, actually. The vet said she looks great for a cat her age - aside from the whole weight loss thing, of course. I guess my subconscious is just having trouble reconciling what my brain knows and my eyes see. That certainly would explain the nightmares and my recent inability to sleep at all. Ultimately, however, one of my babies is dying and I have a big problem with that. I'm not sure when or if I'll ever be able to reconcile that. And, I'm not sure I want to.

Mommy loves you, Zoe.

TODAY'S WORKOUT: Tamilee Webb's Tighter Assets - Cardio Blast

I've chosen Sundays as my official weigh-in day. I weighed myself after I worked out yesterday. Last week's weight loss: 1 pound. Not a huge amount, but I'm more than thrilled to see a drop of any amount rather than the same stupid numbers showing up again or, worse yet, a gain. This brings me to 5 lbs lost in three weeks. I'm getting close to the last 20 lbs to go, which are the hardest to lose. If I can continue to lose 1-1.5 per week, I'll be there in no time!

Does anyone know if it's safe to feed cats boiled egg yolks? Since I'm dieting, I only eat the whites and end up throwing the yolks away. I know there's a lot of calories and fat in yolks, which would be beneficial for our shrinking Zoe. I'm concerned about the cholesterol in them though. She barely weighs 8 pounds now. I'm sure it wouldn't take much to give her a heart attack at this point. I've got a call in to the vet, so I'll have a definite answer, hopefully, by the end of today, but I'm also curious if anyone else has fed yolks to their cat and if there were any, ummm, let's say "digestive side effects". I fed her a little bit of one mixed in with some canned cat food today and she gobbled it right down. I guess I'll find out if it comes shooting out the other end within the next 24 hours or so. I'll be pleased if the vet says it's a good thing to give her for weight gain because she seems to really like them.

EDIT: The vet called. He said cholesterol is not an issue for cats and eggs should not cause any digestive issues. In fact, they are quite easy for cats to process and put very little stress on the kidneys, which is an added bonus in Zoe's case since something is going on with hers. He's growing increasingly concerned about her weight loss and was happy to learn that she actually likes the yolks. I've been given the okay to feed her one whole boiled yolk per day, for as long as she'll eat them, which knowing how fickle my cats can be, will probably be about two days. We'll weigh her again in a month and see if it helps at all.

"NAME THAT MOVIE" CONTEST - 089

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TODAY'S WORKOUT: Tamilee Webb's Tighter Assets - Weight Loss

I used the step during this workout for the first time today. It's only a few inches high, but what a difference it makes. No more dragging my feet around. And, amazingly, I didn't fall down once. It's a miracle!

By request, the front elevation and floor plan of the house we looked at yesterday.

Sometimes, you just have to put your head down and close your eyes for a second.

And, sometimes, you fall completely asleep and end up drooling on your desk for 20 minutes.

Today, Mr Moo and I visited a new subdivision that's being built not too far from here to check out the houses being built. We recently learned that 5,000 new homes are going to be built in the next few years just north of us, which means traffic going by our house is going to increase about a billion-fold as time goes on. We didn't have plans to move anytime soon, but are wondering if maybe we should get out of here before the value of our property starts going down. So, just for kicks, we decided to look around a little.

The subdivision we visited today is being built by the same company that built our current home. Rather than just "custom homes", this new neighborhood has "manor homes". They're bigger, better and a considerable step above, quality and detail-wise, than what we're in right now - real hardwood floors, solid wood cabinets, crown moulding, stainless steel appliances, etc. What it all boils down to is they cost a small fortune.

I stopped by the site yesterday on my way home from the optometrist's office to pick up an information packet. We looked through it last night and found a floor plan that would work well for us and my business. The house has 3213 sq ft, 4 bedrooms, media room, den, 3 baths and a 3-car garage. That's plenty of house for two people (and way more than we have now). We would have to have a wall removed between two of the smaller upstairs bedrooms to make a large enough space for my sewing studio, but, since it's not a load-bearing wall, that would be a simple thing to do since it's new home construction.

We took a tour of a home that's already been purchased and is nearing completion. It was absolutely stunning. I loved the amount of open space, the flow of the layout, all of the detail work. I could seriously imagine us living in that house. There were a few things that we didn't really care for, the biggest being the price. That particular house style starts at almost $600k. Ouch. While we haven't completely eliminated the possibility, I think there were enough things that we didn't like about the house and neighborhood (for example, they're putting these giant houses on lots that are smaller than what we have now) that it's very unlikely to happen. For that kind of money, we'd be better off moving a bit further away from the city and custom building a house of our own with a bit more land. So, looks like we'll sticking around here for a little while longer at least.

TODAY'S WORKOUT: Tamilee Webb's Tighter Assets - Cardio Blast

I forgot to work out yesterday. Oops. Well, I didn't technically forget. I had intended to do so once I got back from visiting the optometrist, but I got busy and never got around to it. I didn't skip today though. Ugh.

I was talking to someone the other day about my cats. I told them how my cats won't sleep or even get on our bed unless I am on or in it myself. If Mr Moo and I happen to let them sleep with us at night (which is very rare due to my allergies) and I get up to pee, Zoe mostly, but sometimes Josie, too, will actually get down off the bed until I return, no matter how comfortable or sound asleep they were. This is just how things work in our house, but the person I was speaking to thought this was the most amazing and bizarre thing she had ever heard since her cat just sleeps wherever and whenever it wants.

What do you think?

I picked up my new glasses this afternoon. They're exactly the same as my old ones except without all the scratches on the lenses. I can see clearly again! Wheee!

Since starting my new food plan a couple weeks ago, I've learned that I quite like asparagus, sweet potatoes and yams. Brussel sprouts, on the other hand, I hate with the white-hot fury of a thousand suns.

I believe the first word I used after spitting them out was "gagarrific". That is, of course, once I stopped retching.

Ladies, when is the last time you did a breast self-exam? Gentlemen, how about a testicular exam? Did you answer "Never" or "I can't remember"? It's time to do one! Write yourself a note and go hang it on your bathroom mirror right now so you'll remember to do one before you get in the shower tomorrow morning. Better yet, skip the note and go do an exam right now. You should get into the habit of doing a self-exam once a month. Breast cancer is the second-leading cause of cancer death in women. And, while testicular cancer may not be high on the list for men (testicular cancer has one of the highest cure rates of all cancers), a man's chance of getting testicular cancer is still roughly 1 in 250. Screening for cancer leads to earlier diagnosis. Early diagnosis leads to earlier treatment and better outcomes. Go. Exam. Do it!

How to do a Breast Self-Exam

How to do a Testicular Self-Exam

TODAY'S WORKOUT: Tamilee Webb's Tighter Assets - Weight Loss

When I grow up, I want to be Tamilee Webb, who can do 1000 ab crunches without getting out of breath or wanting to throw up afterwards.

Today's workout - a whole lotta nothing. While I was doing my daily stretching routine earlier today, something in my left shoulder popped and it was incredibly sore and tender for a while. Rather than risk doing more serious damage to it, I decided that today will be my day of rest for the week. It's not dislocated or anything major like that. Trust me. If it was dislocated, the whole world would have heard me screaming. After rubbing it for a while and taking a long hot shower, it's feeling loads better already. I'm sure it will be fine by tomorrow.

For anyone who is following, the vet called with Zoe's test results yesterday. He was a bit baffled because almost everything came back well within normal ranges. That's a very good thing because it means her kidneys are still working properly, but it doesn't explain why they are less than half the size they should be, why she's continuing to lose weight or what's causing her urine leakage. He did point out that one of the results showed huge amounts of bacteria in her urine. He said, on a scale of 1 to 4, with 1 being normal, she's well beyond a 4 on this one. Mr Moo picked up some antibiotics for her on his way home from work last night. She's to take those for 10 days, then we go back in for another urine draw and more tests. What fun. There are no guarantees, but the vet is hoping this bacterial infection is the ultimate root cause of all of the problems and the meds will do some good. Here's hoping.

We now have both cats on antibiotics. Josie's getting a salve on her head and Zoe is taking pills for her kidneys. And, we all know how much fun it is to medicate cats, right? Anyone want to come over and be me for the next 10 days?

I was awoken this morning by the sound of what I thought was air brakes on a large truck driving by. However, I heard it several more times after that, then it suddenly stopped before I could determine the exact source of the noise. Unless there was an invisible parade of large trucks with air brakes driving by my house, I'm beginning to think there was a woodpecker having a grand ol' time on my roof somewhere.

I had a client almost faint on me for the first time today. I was marking the hem on some pants for her and she suddenly and very matter of factly stated that she needed to sit down right away. I immediately helped her into a chair. Apparently, she gave blood yesterday and hasn't quite fully recovered from it. Standing there with her knees locked turned out to be a little too much for her. I gave her some water and a couple cookies, which seemed to make her feel better. She was embarrassed, but, as I told her, I would much rather have her sit and eat a few cookies than actually faint on me. If she had, I would have called an ambulance since I have no knowledge of her medical history. She could have been going into diabetic shock or having an aneurism for all I would have known. I certainly wouldn't have just left her lying on my fitting room floor. Imagine coming over to get a few pairs of pants hemmed and ending up in the hospital. Now that would have been embarrassing.

TODAY'S WORKOUT: Tamilee Webb's Tighter Assets - Cardio Blast

Someday this will be easy. Someday this will be easy. Someday this will be easy. Someday this will be easy.

TODAY'S WORKOUT: Tamilee Webb's Tighter Assets - Weight Loss

My second time through this workout. I skipped the ab portion the first time and decided, after the fact, that I probably could have done it without a problem. I was right. It wasn't nearly as long or as painful as I feared. It certainly wasn't easy, but I didn't feel like I was about to die when it was over either. Makes for a change. :-)

I bought myself some flowers early last week for losing four pounds the week before.

No flowers for me this week, however. I didn't lose an ounce. Zip. Zero. Nada. The big donut. I know I should be pleased that I didn't gain any weight, but it would have been nice to see a little bit of a loss considering how hard I'm working at this new meal plan I've got going on. Guess I need to step up the cardio a bit.

TODAY'S WORKOUT: Tamilee Webb's Tighter Assets - Cardio Blast

This was my second time through this workout. Amazingly, I actually remembered a lot of it from the first time and was able to keep up - somewhat. I didn't do a lot of the arm movements because I was focusing on my feet and not falling down, but I did keep moving throughout. I'll try to add the arms next time. Anyone want to place a bet on how long it will take me to fall down then? :-)

"NAME THAT MOVIE" CONTEST - 088

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Zoe.

My butt? What makes you think I was licking my butt?

TODAY'S WORKOUT: Tamilee Webb's I Want That Body - Arms, Program 1

I'm going to have Arnold Schwarzenegger arms before too long if I keep doing this program so often. I've got to start forcing myself to do some cardio, even though I hate it so.

Yesterday's abs workout was very oblique intensive. While it may have seemed simple and easy while I was doing it, please, don't ask me to bend over sideways to pick anything up today. Ow. Most workouts focus on the rectus abdominis, which is the main "six pack" muscle running down the front of your tummy. It's nice to have a workout that changes things up a bit and focuses on a different area. Now I just have to get the muscles strong enough that it doesn't ache so much when I do the new workout.

TODAY'S WORKOUT: Tamilee Webb's Tighter Assets - Weight Loss - 10 Minute Abs

In addition to the main 30 minute torture session workout, this DVD has a 10 minute ab workout in the special features. I wasn't feeling up to jumping around like a monkey today, so I did the ab workout instead. I figure it's better than doing nothing.

We're back. We have all survived another trip to the vet's office without loss of life or limb. Granted, I don't think the cats will have anything to do with me for the next 24 hours or so (Josie wouldn't even come into the office for a treat, for Pete's sake!), but they shall forgive me eventually. They always do. Anyhoo, the cats are in overall good shape (teeth, eyes, coat, etc) considering they both have heart murmurs and are quickly approaching 15 years old. The doctor swabbed the scabby thing on Josie's head to check it out under the microscope. She's got some sort of deep infection going on that's causing the oozing and other such ickiness. I have been given an ointment, which I have to apply to her head once per day for the next three weeks. When the doctor said it should be cleared up by then, I laughed and said, "Yeah, you said that about her pink eye, too." He laughed, too, agreed and said we'd shoot for "looking at least a tiny bit better" in three weeks instead.

We also spent quite a bit of time talking about Zoe and her recent mild incontinence problem. Seems like every time she sits on my desk, she leaves a drop of urine behind. She's not peeing a whole puddle, but she's definitely leaking. The doctor had noticed on a previous visit that her kidneys felt small and, this time, they felt even smaller. He drew blood and urine for some additional tests to find out what's going on with her. The results won't be in until early next week, but he's concerned, with all of her current symptoms and continuing weight loss, she's got kidney disease, which is a very bad thing. There is no cure and it will eventually kill her. However, if that is indeed what she's got, we'll be catching it early and she could have several good years left in her still. I'm doing my best to not freak out about it, but it's not easy.

My newest workout DVDs:

click on an image to see a larger view

TODAY'S WORKOUT: Tamilee Webb's I Want That Body - Arms, Program 1

I used two pound weights today instead of the one pounders. It made a huge difference. I could really feel the muscles working this time. It's amazing what a little bit more weight can do.

I'm taking the C-A-Ts to the V-E-T on F-R-I-D-A-Y. Shhh! Josie has had a weird scabby thing on her head for a long while. It's the reason the doctor gave her the cortisone shot that caused her conjunctivitis a while back. Once we cleared that whole mess up, the scabby thing was still there. It's time to get it looked at again. Since the doctor's office is a million and one miles away from here, I figured I'd kill two birds with one stone and scheduled full annual exams for both of them. They're not really due until May, but getting a check-up a few months early won't hurt them (especially now that they're getting up there in age) and I'm all for anything that will save me time and gas.

TODAY'S WORKOUT: Tamilee Webb's Tighter Assets - Cardio Blast

Another new workout video today. There really wasn't any doubt before, but this workout has, once again, confirmed that I have absolutely no coordination or balance. I was lucky to keep up with the footwork, never mind adding the arm movements, too. I know it will get easier as I continue to do it, but I'm feeling like a totally uncoordinated moron at the moment. There be a whole lot of flailing going on!

Last week, I started a new - oh, I hate to call it a diet - a new food plan. Things are going well and, according to my (notoriously full of lies) bathroom scale, I've already lost 4 pounds. I've been debating whether or not I should document everything here in my journal since it's already a tear-inducing bore. I don't want to be responsible for putting anyone into a complete coma, you know. Is anyone interested in reading about the details? Leave a comment or shoot me an email.

Moo's 10 Second Movie Review

Short. Sweet. Very yellow. From the producers of The Rookie and Miracle, another inspirational, feel-good and predictable sports movie. I do loves me some football, and Mark Wahlberg and his cannons (sorry, ladies, that's all you get to see in this one) are certainly easy on the eyes, so I didn't have any trouble sitting through this one. Worth a rental, but I won't be adding this to the "to buy" list unless I come across it in the $2 bin.

TODAY'S WORKOUT: Tamilee Webb's Tighter Assets - Weight Loss

This is a new DVD that arrived in the mail yesterday. It's a 30 minute workout, which is broken down into 2 lower body sections, 2 upper body sections, an ab workout and a cool down. Since this was my first time through, I didn't want to kill myself, so I skipped the ab workout. Turns out, that particular section is only four minutes long and I felt good enough at the end that I probably could have gotten through it with no problems. I'll definitely do it next time.

When I finally managed to drag my sorry self downstairs this morning, I found these on my kitchen table:

A whole day early. Mr Moo is on the ball this year!

Happy Birthday to my sister!

Hope your cold has let up at least a little today.

"NAME THAT MOVIE" CONTEST - 087

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I got up to pee no less than five times last night. I really have to stop drinking so much water before bedtime. Guh.

I've been busy and running around like a crazy person all day today. However, I still don't feel like I got anything done. How is that possible?

Josie.

The cats in our house have such a rough life.

TODAY'S WORKOUT: Tamilee Webb's I Want That Body - Arms, Program 1

I used one pound weights again today. The workout was alright, but I can tell I'll be ready to up the weight sooner rather than later.

Guess where I went today.

There's nothing quite like being blinded by everything for three hours.

TODAY'S WORKOUT: Tamilee Webb's I Want That Body - Abs, Program 1

Yup. Still brutal.

The body of a missing 69-year-old Beaverton woman was found in Washington state earlier today. She's been missing since January 27. It appears she drove herself to a remote area in Washington, locked herself out of the car and, I assume, died of exposure. I quote from the news article:

Johnson has a history of seizures which her family said sometimes left her disoriented. She was taking medication for the condition and she had a valid driver's license.

Will someone, please, tell me why anyone would ever let an elderly woman with a "history of seizures" continue to drive? And, how could she have a valid driver's license if she had seizures? A previous news article stated that she's had other episodes where she became disoriented and drove off. She managed to stay on the highway in the past and was found once her car ran out of gas. It doesn't sound like her medication was working very well, which is why I don't understand how she still had a license. License or not, if it was my mom, I would have taken her keys away a long time ago.

Tonight's fitting was a disaster. Fortunately, it wasn't because of me. It was because of the bra. The strapless longline bra my client chose did not fit or shape her well, and she decided halfway through the fitting that she no longer wants to use it. Unfortunately, this means we're back to square one. Normally, this wouldn't be a problem. I would send her out bra shopping once again, we'd take new measurements once she bought one, and I'd make and fit a new muslin. The problem, in this case, is twofold. For starters, my client is a DD cup and has a tiny waist. She's had a miserable time finding a decent bra to fit her. Part two of the problem is that she's leaving in a few weeks. She will be out of the country for two months and won't return until a few days before she leaves again for the wedding. This does not leave us much time to do fittings. I could tell she was very upset last night, so I gave her a hug and assured her that we could still make her a dress in the time we have. I also told her, if she decided to go a different route and buy a dress, I would not be upset or offended at all. Yes, I would like to have her business. However, given that she's a med student and is completely stressed and busy even without all the wedding business, I can understand the relief it would bring her to just buy a dress and have it be done. So, today I wait for the phone to ring. She's going to call sometime today and let me know what she wants to do.

EDIT: Client called. She's decided that she can't deal with the stress of the tight schedule and just doesn't have time to be running all over town trying to find a bra that will fit her. She's going to buy a dress instead.

TODAY'S WORKOUT: Tamilee Webb's I Want That Body - Buns, Program 1

If I can walk up and down the stairs unassisted tomorrow, it will be a miracle. That is all.

I didn't get my client's muslin made last night because I got caught up working on some database stuff all night. Oops. It's now my mission for this afternoon. Her appointment isn't until 2000 tonight, so I have plenty of time to get it finished.

Where has the day gone? And what the heck have I been doing all day? My mission for the rest of the evening is to make a muslin (a partial mock-up of a garment - also called a toile) for a client fitting tomorrow night. I'm making a silk dupioni gown for her wedding at the end of May. We will fit the muslin on her to work out any major fitting problems before cutting the fashion fabric. If all goes well tomorrow, I will immediately transfer any changes to her pattern and get to work on the actual dress. If there are problems or any drastic changes, I will probably make and fit another muslin, just to be sure, before cutting her fabric. I shall endeavor to take as many photos as I can of the whole dressmaking process for the curious.

My grand plan was the do the buns portion of my Tamilee Webb DVD this morning. Unfortunately, I am just too sore from the abs and arms workouts. I started it and managed to get through a few minutes of it before I ceded in pain. My butt will have to wait one more day.

Tonight, I, with Mr Moo's help, cleaned out and totally scrubbed down the shelves and the inside of our refigerator. It hadn't been done in forever and desperately needed to be done. Afterwards, I hemmed this for a client:

Two more things off the to-do list.

TODAY'S WORKOUT: Tamilee Webb's I Want That Body - Arms, Program 1

Since this was my first time doing this workout, I didn't want to overdo it so only used 1 pound weights. Smart move. Given the quick tempo, large number of repetitions and the fact that I am completely out of shape, I found this workout fairly intense. It wasn't nearly as bad as the puke-inducing abs workout I did yesterday, but I can tell my arms are going to be a bit sore come tomorrow.

"NAME THAT MOVIE" CONTEST - 086

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TODAY'S WORKOUT: Tamilee Webb's I Want That Body - Abs, Program 1

Brutal.

The fried rice our neighbor showed us how to make this afternoon.

The secret ingredient: a packet of rice seasoning from the Asian food store. It has a bunch of things in it including garlic salt and onion powder. We've only ever used soy sauce and it, apparently, just wasn't enough. Hopefully, our next foray into fried rice making will be much more successful now that we've learned the secret.

In exchange for hemming a pair of pants for her, my next door neighbor has agreed to teach Mr Moo and myself how to make her fried rice, which is most excellent. We know the basics of how to make it, but ours never turns out well. Today, we are determined to learn the secret to making good rice.

EDIT: She just called. We're doing it here instead.

The sewer dudes were in our neighborhood a few days ago.

I thought they were somehow sucking leaves and other crud out of the drains, but the hose they were using wasn't anywhere near large enough for that. When they retracted it all the way, there was a large metal nozzle type thing at the end that was dripping water. I guess it was some sort of high pressure hose that blasts all the debris away. Whatever they were doing, I kept waiting for a giant alligator or the tapeworm man from X-Files to jump out and get one of them, but, alas, I was not to be thusly entertained this day.

From this year's Chick-fil-A calendar, The Good, The Bad and The Hairy:

Marshal Marseilles Marsala
The entire bovine revolution mushroomed once the great Marshal Marseilles (said mar-SAY) Marsala took up the cause. Though he was part French, he was no petit filet. Ya see, his great-great-uncle was the one and only NAPOLEON "T-BONE" APARTE, so leadin' the pro-chicken charge was in his blood. Fact is, many a steer eater steered plumb clear o' the Marshal as he decreed his hometown o' Salt Lick City, Utah: CHIKIN ONLEE.